


Pokemon: Pastel Pink Edition

by 2jinwons



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Other, ive tagged the other 3 major characters but they aren't the main.. does that even make sense???, looking at u chuulip and 2bin, there's no real pairings but feel free to interpret certain interactions how you wish, this is an ao3 version of my twitter au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21832915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2jinwons/pseuds/2jinwons
Summary: The AO3 version of the Twitter AU at @2jinwons.Follow Vivi, Choerry & her Nincada on their journey through the Sinnoh region, as they encounter Pokémon, make unlikely friends, and find out that sometimes, you can’t always get what you want.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 12





	1. [Prologue #1]

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AO3 version of my twitter AU! You can find it here:  
> https://twitter.com/2jinwons/status/1124634756233043968
> 
> Updates will always go to Twitter before they go here :)

In every key moment in her life, Choerry could always remember Pokemon somehow being a part of it. Her first steps were supported by an over-active Growlithe, and her first word was repeated endlessly by a Chatot. It wasn’t surprising, considering that she came from a family of Pokemon breeders. Any time where she wasn’t eating, sleeping, or in school was spent with the Pokemon at the daycare. Her parents often found her sleeping surrounded by the more friendly Pokemon left in their care, with the family’s Clefairy right next to her. She also spent a lot of time playing with the newly hatched starter Pokemon left in her family’s care, helping to get them used to people for the new aspiring trainers.

When Choerry was 10 years old, her parents decided that it would be time for her to have a companion Pokemon of her own. They sat her down, explaining that she had her pick of any of the newly hatched Pokemon from this week; Pichu, Cleffa, Eevee, Togepi, Happiny, Roselia, Growlithe, Munchlax or Nincada. They had their expectations of what she would pick - she had always been partial to cuter Pokemon, like Eevee or Cleffa, when she was younger. Not wanting to pressure her, they told her that they would wait outside for her so she could make the hard decision on her own. As she looked eagerly at each of the Pokemon, one in particular immediately caught her eye. Nincada. As she walked outside proudly holding her new friend in her arms, her parents were… confused. It wasn’t exactly the cutest of Pokemon - it was honestly quite an ugly bug. But her little heart was drawn to it, and her parents always told her that’s what mattered, right? 

As she grew up, her love for Pokemon only grew stronger. The older she grew however, she more conflicted she became. She watched as more and more of her friends left their small town and went on their Pokemon journeys. By the time she was 17 years old, she was well and truly left behind. Unlike her friends, she stayed in their town to help with the daycare. It was expected that she would stay behind, since her family has been running it for over 50 years. Every day she had the same routine. Feed Pokemon, check on the eggs, entertain the daycare Pokemon, return Pokemon to their trainers, settle in the new ones. After 17 years of this, to say she was beginning to become tired of it was an understatement.

Choerry had been put in charge of the latest group of starter Pokemon this year. As usual, it was the same three; Piplup, Chimchar and Turtwig. There was only 1 trainer who had put their name down this year, which meant they had their pick - they’d been hinting to her that they wanted Chimchar, so she made sure to work extra hard to make sure it would be used to people in time. This year’s group were particularly feisty - except for the Turtwig. While the Chimchar and Piplup had her running around in circles all day, chasing them and keeping them away from harm, the Turtwig was gentle and calm, preferring to stay close to her than run off. 

She unconsciously found herself drawn to it more and more, even panicking slightly when the new trainer rocked up, and almost decided to take Turtwig instead. Thankfully, they stayed true to their hinting and took the Chimchar, and she had heard word that a newcomer was looking to obtain a Pokemon to start a journey of their own. Choerry found herself feeling more and more cooped up in the small town, and it finally clicked in her head. She wanted to go on a journey of her own too. _Isn’t it only fair that I get to go on a journey of my own? To experience something new?_ Nodding slightly to herself, she scooped the Turtwig up into her arms, glanced backwards to make sure her Nincada was following, and set off to her house, determined to experience a Pokemon journey for herself.


	2. [Prologue #2]

Vivi had never really considered Pokemon a major part of her life. Yeah, they were around but to her parent’s dismay, she was never interested in going on a journey. While her friends decided to travel Kalos and try to become the new champion, she decided to go on a different path. She’d spent the last 5 years of her life as a model, and she had shot to the top at lightning speed. She’d modeled for countless companies, helped advertise new Pokemon trainer items, and even shot a few advertisements with Pokemon. She had always thought that this was the path she wanted, modeling one day, going out for lunch with other models the next. She was definitely happy, but she was beginning to feel… bored. And she was also becoming increasingly curious about Pokemon, and what a journey of her own would be like.

It had been 2 weeks since Vivi had started to begin to feel bored, and her feelings were only intensifying. She had offhandedly mentioned it to her friend over the phone, and they immediately suggested that she do something new, and her suggestion had stuck in Vivi’s mind.

_“I know you said that you would never be interested in going on a journey, but I heard that you’ve been asking around about what a journey is like. Why don’t you go on one?”_

_“Honestly… I don’t know. I think it was more that I didn’t want to follow what my parents did? Even if I do go on one, I really don’t want to do it here. Aren’t you meant to discover the region for the first time? I’ve been everywhere here…”_

_“You have a point… if you’re really so bored, then you should come over here! You’ve never been to Sinnoh before, you’ve never been on a Pokemon journey… there’s no way you could ever get bored! And you can always ask me for help if you need it, considering I live here!”_

_“I’ll consider it… thank you Haseul.”_

Vivi was beginning to wonder why she thought moving to a new region on a whim would be a good idea. Haseul had directed her to a Pokemon daycare and told her that she would be able to obtain a starter Pokemon there, and then left her, yelling apologies over her shoulder. This left her a little worried, considering she knew next to nothing about Pokemon. She set off in the vague direction that she’d been pointing in, worries flying in and out of her head at a rapid rate. _I really hope these people can tell me some basic stuff, because honestly I have… next to no clue what I’m doing._ After a bit of a walk, she knew she was definitely at the right place when she saw the dozens of Pokemon lounging around in the yard, and a young girl playing with one that looked… particularly disgusting. Gross. Clearing her throat slightly, she leaned on the gate and tried to get her attention.

“Hi, I was told I could come here and receive a Pokemon to start a journey?”

She must have accidentally startled the girl, and when she looked up panicked, Vivi noticed that her eyes seemed… red? The girl blinked at her a few times, and then realized that she never actually replied. 

“You must be the newcomer my parents were told about? Yup, we have two Pokemon here that you can pick from. The plans for one of them… fell through. I’m Choerry by the way, nice to meet you!”

Choerry led her inside, and took her to a room where two small Pokemon were sitting. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the one that looked like a blue penguin, and she took a cautious step towards it. Choerry smiled at her, and nodded encouragingly.

“That’s Piplup! They’re really prideful Pokemon, and honestly this one is a bit of a handful, but they make good starter Pokemon. They’re pretty good for inexperienced trainers, specially if you’ve never really had any Pokemon before.”

Vivi extended her hand to the Piplup, and once it seemed comfortable, looked back towards Choerry. She had mentally noted her comment about the plans falling through for one, and decided she’d investigate just in case it was about the Piplup.

“I think I might take this one. If you don’t mind me asking, which Pokemon was the one that had plans? Just in case something was wrong?”

“Ah… well… it was the Turtwig. I had planned to take the Turtwig and go on a journey but my parents were against it? They were worried about me going alone I guess.”

It all clicked in Vivi’s head as soon as she said it. The red eyes, the pause before she spoke… this girl seemed genuinely upset about not being able to go.

“You really want to go on a journey right? I can tell, you sound really disappointed, and you looked pretty upset before.”

Choerry smiled sadly, and nodded. “I feel really cooped up here, which is dumb, because I chose to stay here while all my friends left. I kinda regret it though.”

Vivi was genuinely beginning to feel bad for her, and while she thought about sympathetic things to say, an idea popped into her mind. “Choerry? Would your parents let you go as long as you were with someone?”

“I think so? That’s their only concern I think.”

“Well… if you want, you can come with me? I’m not sure if it’s obvious, but I know very little about Pokemon. You seem like you know a lot. I’m assuming I’m also older than you, which may make your parents more likely to say yes. We can even ask together, if you want.”

Choerry’s eyes started sparkling, and she stepped closer. “I’d love to! There’s one thing I have to ask you though.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your name? You never did tell me.”


	3. [Episode 1]

“So let me get this straight. You left behind your successful career, and moved to a region you’ve never been to before… because you were bored?”

“Not like you can talk, you decided to leave the only town you’ve ever known because you felt cooped up!”

The current situation between them was much more enjoyable than the beginning of their journey. Both Vivi and Choerry didn’t consider just how awkward their journey may be before they embarked on it. They barely knew each other, and yet here they were, traveling together.  
At first, Choerry’s parents were very hesitant about it, thinking that it was just a little bit suspicious that Vivi was so willing to let Choerry travel with her. Vivi wouldn’t deny that it looked suspicious, but after a very intense conversation, she had managed to convince her parents that it would be the right choice. She refused to tell Choerry how she did it, no matter how much she asked. It’s just one of those things that she’d be better off not knowing, at least for now. 

There was no denying that the two of them different in many, many ways. As they walked along an empty path that was only dirt, Choerry flipped through her small guide book on Pokemon, showing Vivi the different kinds that may be found in Sinnoh. Anyone could tell that Choerry was more inclined to consider a less ‘conventional’ Pokemon. One look at her cuddling her Nincada could give that away. On the other hand, Vivi felt herself drawn to the classier looking ones. She found herself making judgements about Pokemon that Choerry showed her, some of which made her laugh. A lot.

“Can I ask you a question though? Why did you have a Nincada before you got a starter?”

“Oh, I forgot you weren’t around Pokemon for your whole life! Nincada is my companion Pokemon. Essentially, companion Pokemon are a Pokemon that you encountered, and felt this kind of deep connection with? Lots of people think that it’s their starter, and sometimes it is, but usually you end up encountering them on a journey. My parents assumed I’d never leave the daycare, so they let me pick one from a bunch of newly hatched Pokemon. They told me that they thought I’d pick like… a Pichu, but I felt myself really drawn to Nincada so…”

“You were drawn to a bug? Gross”

Choerry shot her a half-hearted glare, and they both began to laugh. Vivi appreciated that Choerry was freely opening up about something that sounds close to her heart. But it had her wondering. What would her companion Pokemon be? Would it be something unusual, like Choerry’s Nincada, or was she one of the few people whose companion was their starter?

Vivi began to zone out as they walked along a path, the activity feeling almost mindless. They’d been walking for a few hours, on what was pretty much the same path, after quickly passing through a small town that Vivi didn’t quite catch the name of. Vivi was so zoned out, that she didn’t notice how Choerry had stopped walking, and walked straight into her.

“Ok, I was right, you were zoned out. I really don’t blame ya, honestly! Anyways, we aren’t on the boring path anymore, we’re right where we want to be.”

“In grass?”

“Yes! You’re more likely to encounter a Pokemon in grass, specifically tall grass, but honestly Pokemon will appear wherever they want to. Trust me. Learnt that the hard way.”

“Do I want to know?”

Choerry remained silent for a few moments, then chuckled and shook her head. She took out some Pokeballs, and handed some over to Vivi before giving her the biggest smile she’d ever seen.

“If you want to be a trainer, or at least go on a journey, you’ll need to know how to catch Pokemon. Am I right in assuming you don’t know how?”

“Spot on.”

“Cool, no big deal. If you look around, there’s a few Pokemon here you can practice on. If you don’t like them, it’s okay. Just practice, and I’ll send the others back to my parents!”

Choerry spent the next 10 minutes explaining everything with excruciating detail. How to weaken the Pokemon without hurting it too much, how to correctly throw the Pokeball…

Choerry demonstrated on a Bidoof, laughing a little at Vivi’s shocked reaction as her Turtwig weakened it easily. “These Pokemon are all really young, so they’re pretty weak. It won’t take much but it’s still good practice.”

Vivi almost resigned herself to the fact that she would have to practice on a Bidoof, until she noticed a small bird in the corner of her eye. Following Choerry’s instruction, she had her Piplup weaken it with a safe move, Tackle, until she thought it was okay to throw the Pokeball.

“Just like that, you’re one step further to having an enjoyable journey! There’s a city up ahead, and it’s a bigger one with a PokeMart and a Pokemon Centre! Since it’s already getting dark, we can sleep there for the night. And I can transfer that Starly to my parents for you if you’d like!”

Vivi shook her head lightly, to Choerry’s surprise. As they were about to arrive at the city, Choerry stopped in her tracks again.

“Ok sorry, I gotta catch that Shinx. Parents need one for some trainer I think. Oh yeah, some Pokemon will be easier to find at specific times of day. A good example is Shinx, they can be found all the time but you’ll find them easier at night.”

Once Choerry finished, she linked her arm with Vivi’s, and led them to Jubilife City’s Pokemon Centre, excitedly explaining how they work, emphasising the fact that they’re free, but you can potions at a PokeMart too.


	4. [Episode #2]

As soon as she sleepily opened her eyes, Choerry was filled with immediate confusion. Something didn’t quite feel right. Sunlight in the room? That’s normal. But it was never so noisy in the town, let alone her room. She looked around, and then it hit her. She wasn’t in her room. She began to panic, thoughts of kidnapping and not being able to fight running through her head-

“Morning. You were out for a long time…”

And that was when she was hit with a realisation once again, for the second time in two minutes. She wasn’t at home. She was in Jubilife City, sleeping in a Pokemon Centre, because she was finally on a Pokemon journey.

“Choerry? Are you listening?”

“Oh, sorry Vivi! What were you saying?”

Vivi shook her head, just a little. She wasn’t going to say anything because she saw Choerry go through her consecutive realisations. “I was asking what you can do in this city? I do know… nothing…”

Once again, Choerry went silent, clearly thinking. Her personality was so wildly different when she had just woken up, nowhere near as lively. Not that Vivi could blame her, because she didn’t consider herself to be an enthusiastic morning person either. Before they had gone to sleep, Choerry had encouraged her to nickname her Pokemon once she got to know their personalities. So while Choerry was sound asleep, Vivi got up early and spent some time getting to know her Pokemon. It was amazing to see how different they were in personality. Her Piplup was a little bit of a handful, which she had expected. When she first saw it, she was drawn to it’s almost proud nature. But her Starly was entirely different. It was as if it was shy, hesitant to be near her or the Piplup. She wasn’t sure what to do just yet, but spending time with it just before other trainers started to wake up calmed it down. Maybe Vivi was getting the hang of this.

“Okay, if I remember correctly, there’s a few things in this city. There’s the Poketch Company, which we should definitely stop by, and the Trainers’ School. We can also check out the PokeMart if you want, just to see what they have. But before we do any of that, I gotta send this Shinx to my parents, I’ll be right back!”

Choerry ran off before Vivi could get a single word out, leaving her alone with her Pokemon. The Turtwig was still sleepy, which was cute. She would admit that. But the Nincada… that was going to take some getting used to. When she woke up and looked over at Choerry, she could not believe her eyes. Choerry was asleep… with the Nincada in her arms. Her. Arms. 

Okay, so maybe it’s face was a _little_ cute. 

But otherwise… it was a bug! Vivi could not be more disgusted. She made sure not to let Choerry see that though, because she would be so upset. Choerry was telling her all these facts about her Pokemon, and she didn’t have the heart to tell her she was slightly disgusted by her companion. She’d have to live with it, quite literally… whether she liked it or not.

“I’m back! What do you want to do first?”

Vivi breathed a sigh of relief, because she was staring that Nincada down just moments ago and she couldn’t stand it anymore. Tilting her head in thought, she watched Choerry return Turtwig to its Pokeball, and scoop Nincada into her arms.

“Well… maybe we can check out the PokeMart first since it’s nearby. Then I guess go to the Poketch Company?” Choerry nodded, and flashed her a quick smile before leading the way. Yup, she was definitely back to her normal happy self.

The PokeMart was a little disappointing. All it had was Pokeballs, potions and… some other healing items?

“Oh right, some Pokemon can have status conditions inflicted on them. You use these ones to make them feel better and all that. It’s probably a good idea if we stock up on these and potions, because we’ll need them eventually.” Vivi absentmindedly nodded her head, reading the description of one item.

“Okay, now I see why you said Pokemon Centres are more important to keep an eye out for. That stuff is so expensive…” 

Choerry laughed as she led them to the Poketch Company, almost running from her excitement. “Yeah, it gets pretty ridiculous after awhile. It makes sense, because I’m sure it cost a lot to make that… but new trainers can’t afford a lot of it. Actually, maybe that’s the point? It makes them make smarter decisions so their Pokemon don’t get hurt I guess. Anyways, we’re here!”

As they were about to enter the building, Vivi just couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. She looked around, but couldn’t see anyone around. Choerry noticed this, becoming serious very quickly. “You too huh? I can’t really shake the feeling, but I haven’t seen anyone following us…”

They were right. Someone was watching them, but honestly? She wasn’t that interested… or impressed. As she turned away in disappointment, Choerry swore she saw blonde hair going around the corner. Or was she just imagining it?


	5. [Interlude #1]

All of Vivi’s thoughts were full of doubt in her rash decision. No, not the decision to move to Sinnoh. It was her decision to just suddenly offer to go on a journey with this girl she didn’t even know. She didn’t know why she did it, any of it really. She had never made rash decisions before in her life, and yet here she was. In a region she’d never been to, making offers to someone she just met. 

Vivi took a deep breath when she saw two people who looked like they’d be Choerry’s parents. She had no time to prepare what she was going to say to convince them, as they noticed her straight away and beckoned her over.

“Vivi right? Haseul told us about you. Did you pick a starter yet?”

“Yeah, I did. I think Choerry mentioned it was Piplup? Thank you for letting me have it, I’m very thankful for this.” She internally winced at how awkward and stiff she sounded. This wouldn’t help her convince them at all. As her parents quickly ran through the basics of a Pokedex and Pokemon food, she tried to latch onto a logical reason for why Choerry should come with her.

“...and that’s about all we can tell you! Knowledge really does come from experience in this case. Is there anything else we can do for you?”

If there was any time to attempt to convince them, it’d be now. Vivi took another deep breath, and nodded her head slowly.

“I just wanted to ask, does your daughter know a lot about Pokemon?”

Her parents were silent, nodding their heads. It didn’t look very approving.

“I know it’s an odd question, it’s just that I know very little about Pokemon and-”

“You can stop there, it’s pretty clear what you’re asking. The answer won’t change.”

This was going to be very difficult.

“Is there any particular reason why you won’t let her go on a journey? If the issue is her being alone, I’m more than happy to go with her. I’d be hopeless on my own anyways.”

“That’s nice of you, but it’s not the only reason. It’s pointless for her to go now. We told her time and time again when she was younger to go, and she never did. She can’t just turn around and change her mind now, when she’s the only child of ours still helping to run the daycare.” 

For some reason, the words of Choerry’s father struck a nerve in Vivi. She didn’t really appreciate what he was saying at all. In her mind, all she could see were Choerry’s red eyes and sad expression.

“So you’re withdrawing your support for her to do something that’s pretty normal here, just because you want her to help run the daycare? I’m sorry if this is harsh, but that seems pretty selfish. How could you stop your daughter for doing something she seems passionate for? Surely you could run the daycare without her for awhile.”

Choerry’s father seemed relatively unconvinced, but her mother seemed to be cracking. She’d take advantage of that.

“As parents, shouldn’t you want her to grow? If you keep her here, she won’t grow. She’ll just be stunted. Let her go on the journey. It’ll do her good. She might even learn some stuff with the experience she gains. Didn’t you just say to me that knowledge comes best from experience?”

Vivi’s words seemed to hit Choerry’s mother hard, and even her father looked shocked. They turned away, and had a conversation Vivi couldn’t hear. She didn’t want to hear it anyways, unless it was a definite good outcome. When they turned back, they nodded in Vivi’s direction.

“What you said is right. She can go, on one condition.”

All she had to do was keep her safe. That, she could do.


	6. [Episode #3]

Once they had well and truly exhausted everything Jubilife City had to offer, Choerry excitedly led Vivi to a small route with lots of grass, a small body of water, and a few trainers.

“This… is Route 204! I think.” Noticing Vivi giving her a deadpanned look, Choerry quickly began to explain herself.

“I say I think because the sign is worn out, but based off of my map, it’s the one northward of Jubilife City. We’re here to catch some Pokemon, do a small bit of training… yeah! Oh, I grabbed you a map too by the way.”

Taking a quick look around, Vivi noticed a lot of Pokemon. She recognised a couple, based off of Choerry’s quick explanations when they had been traveling earlier. Everything else was so new, and different… and she was happy. Finally, she was getting what she wanted.

“ … - I noticed a little theme with your Pokemon, and I think you might like…”

Choerry’s excited talking broke VIvi out of her daze, and she followed Choerry’s pointing to a small… plant?

“I see you’re confused, so let me show you what it evolves into! I think you’ll really like it.”

Vivi watched her flick the pages of her guidebook until she landed on one that matched the small plant that had wandered in front of them. She took note of the name, and then she noticed what it evolved into.

“Choerry. That might be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. And I’ve modelled for a long time too and some of that was insanely beautiful, but… that is so pretty.”

“Knew you’d like it! I think it’s taken a liking to you, so you might not even have to battle it. Lucky…”

…  
…

“Wait, did you just say you modelled????”

Choerry felt her cheeks hurting, but she couldn’t help but smile at how enamored Vivi had become with the Budew. Ever since they entered this route Vivi had a small sparkle in her eyes, which Choerry had hoped was mirrored in her own. It was just so exciting to be doing something new… and different.

She decided she wanted to try her luck with getting a water type Pokemon, just for fun. And also to try out the fishing rod she ‘borrowed’ from her father. 

“Okay, so don’t freak out, but…”

…

“I don’t want to know where you put that fishing rod, but… why would you be fishing right now?”

“I want a water type! I’m not really interested in any of the Pokemon here, they’re a little too conventional for my taste.”

Choerry didn’t even notice Vivi’s mumbling about her Nincada, because she felt as if she was being watched. Again. But there was no one there except for her and Vivi, and the other trainers that were already here.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

She hadn’t particularly wanted to continue to follow the two girls, but she somehow found herself drawn to them. She killed time in Jubilife City for at least two hours, waiting for them to finally move on to another route. She almost didn’t notice that they had begun to move, but it was very easy to spot two girls with pink hair.

She felt bad for following them, really. She was certain that the younger looking one, who’s hair was more vibrant, had noticed her. But she couldn’t help it. It was lonely on her own, after so long interacting with people every single day. So she followed them, hoping that they’d be people she could travel with. It was cute, hearing one explain things to the other, which meant that at least one of them was fairly new to being a trainer. It’d been so long since she’d seen any new trainers...

Chaewon shook her head, blinking rapidly, trying to signal to her eyes to stop tricking her. She had walked further down the route so it didn’t look like she’d been following them. Hearing loud shrieking, she whipped around out of concern. But when she turned around… she was shocked. There’s no way that this girl, who somehow pulled a fishing rod out of her tiny bag, managed to not only pull a Psyduck, but a shiny one. A shiny. Psyduck. She heard other trainers congratulating her, so she knew her eyes weren’t deceiving her. The girl almost forgot to try to catch it, then quickly realised that she actually had to catch it. Chaewon watched her weaken it, and then successfully catch it. Her friend seemed confused about why exactly some random strangers were congratulating her, confirming Chaewon’s suspicions that she was a new trainer. Very new.

…

“So this is what a normal one looks like, Vivi”

…

“Okay, now I get it… I bet you’re extra glad you came with me, Choerry. Congrats, it’s such a pretty blue too.”

She knew their names now, finally. Eventually, she’d introduce herself to them. But for now… she was going to follow them just for the Psyduck. It was the shiny she had always wanted to get… but maybe just knowing someone who had one would be fine too.


	7. [Interlude #2]

For Chaewon, it was painful to reminisce on the events that lead to her being dropped off in Jubilife City. In the span of 2 weeks, almost everything had changed. She left some of her beloved Pokemon there, and others she deposited with the professor. She left behind her closest friends, who she’d bonded with so quickly over 2 years, just like that. She can remember the tears, the yelling, the hushed conversations that ended as soon as she entered the room…

When they learned about her decision, everyone had thought it was a joke. She’d always been a bit of a prankster among the group, making it her life’s mission to pull something on them every week. She remembered as she began to pack, they were still playing it off like a joke.

“Wow… you’re even packing! I’ve gotta admit, you’re really dedicated to this prank!” 

That was probably the last time she’d heard Hyunjin’s loud laughter. As soon as she realised that it was serious, it was as if Chaewon had stopped existing to her. She could barely even get her to look at her when she was about to leave.

“I’ve always supported you in everything you’ve ever wanted to do… but this is really, really hard. How can I be supportive of you leaving, just like that?”

If Hyunjin’s coldness hadn’t hurt Chaewon enough, then the sadness in Jinsoul’s voice broke her heart. They had always been close, and had clicked so easily upon their formal introductions. Hyunjin had always joked that they seemed like a mother-daughter duo, and while they had always played it off, Chaewon had to admit… she liked the idea. Jinsoul supported her when no one else would… and Chaewon ran to her with problem after problem more often than she’d like to admit. 

“I just… I don’t think I can do it anymore, y'know? And the last few weeks have left me really doubting myself anyways-”

Chaewon had found herself immediately cut off and wrapped in a tight hug, completely caught off guard.

“You don’t have to explain yourself. Just because it’s hard for me to support you, doesn’t mean I won’t. I mean… when haven’t I? I’ll just miss you a lot…”

That may have been the tipping point for Chaewon’s emotions, because when she looks back on that moment, all she remembers is her eyes stinging from tears, and the sound of Jinsoul’s own crying.

Chaewon found herself feeling very, very small under Heejin’s gaze. Even as she sipped her coffee, she never took her eyes off of Chaewon. More and more time passed, the silence growing and tension building… until Heejin sighed and set down her cup.

“I hope you know, even just bringing up the idea of me talking to you set Hyunjin off, and she didn’t talk to me for a couple of days. Jinsoul ended up telling her off about it.”

Chaewon’s silence was all the answer Heejin had needed, and she began to shake her head.

“I kind of feel like the only person who understands why you’re leaving. I mean, you told all 3 of us pretty clearly, but the others just… don’t seem to get it. Hyunjin is acting like it’s the most selfish thing you could do, and Jinsoul just seems so upset. But I get it. I don’t agree with it… but I get it.”

Chaewon hadn’t expected to hear that, and her shock must have been visible on her face, because Heejin started to laugh softly, shooting her one of the soft smiles she’d become so used to.

It was the big day. The day she would leave it all behind. She had one arm linked with Jinsoul’s, and the other was being held in a tight grip by Heejin. Hyunjin was nowhere to be seen, but it was expected, after all. Chaewon took in the big garden for the last time, and just enjoyed the gentle sounds of the ocean nearby as she took a step back and faced her friends.

“What are you going to do once you’ve left?”

Chaewon appreciated Heejin’s attempt at small talk, because if she had tried to say her goodbyes now… it would have become a mess and she didn’t want to remember these events that way.

“I think I might-”

“I don’t think it matters what she’s going to do. She isn’t going to be here, is she?”

Hyunjin.

She hadn’t expected her to actually show up, but here she was. She had shown up right at the end, just before Chaewon was going to say her goodbyes and hop onto her ride to Jubilife City. Her voice had anger in it, but her red eyes and facial expression told Chaewon otherwise. She was upset, but she was here. Was that even a good thing? Was she only here for confrontation, or was she going to still ignore Chaewon’s existence?

“Hyunjin… what’s done is done. And besides, we can always meet up if we know what she’s doing, can’t we?”

“Jinsoul, how can you still be so supportive? Isn’t she breaking your heart too?”

The arguing continued, more and more, as if she wasn’t there to hear it all. She could ignore her hurt at Hyunjin’s coldness so far, but everyone has their limits. And hers was here.

“Enough. I’m standing right here. You don’t have to talk to me ever again if you really don’t want to Hyunjin. I won’t force you to. But I want you to understand exactly why I’m doing this. I’ve never been the best of the 4 of us, obviously. I was probably the furthest behind when we began to journey together! But I don’t think I’m growing anymore, I’m not developing my skill anymore… I can’t stand this! I’m stuck in this same spot, unable to grow, all because I was too scared to open my eyes and realise that this isn’t right for me anymore. I just… I can’t lie to myself anymore, alright? Maybe I’ll come back one day, but I only want to come back once I’ve become stronger.”

Chaewon’s outburst had stunned all three of her friends into silence, and her heart ached as she stepped closer towards them.

“I’ll miss you all a lot, but we can stay in touch, yeah? I’ll write and tell you where I’m headed. I think I’m going to just travel for a bit. Take a break from all this stress, and experience what I didn’t experience before. Did you know I just kept going and going without truly enjoying my journey when I first did it?”

Chaewon couldn’t trust herself to not cry anymore, and quickly hugged Jinsoul and Heejin, and awkwardly shook Hyunjin’s hand. She still seemed stunned after everything she had said, even as Chaewon turned away and hopped on the Pokemon that would take her to Jubilife City. 

Chaewon took a deep breath, and opened her eyes after her painful reminiscence. Standing up from her seat inside the Pokemon Centre, she let out her companion from it’s Pokeball, and pulled it into her arms.

“It’s just you and me, Spinda.”


	8. [Episode #4]

_It had been around 5pm when Choerry suggested that they attempt to make their way to Oreburgh City._

_“It’s only 5pm, the sun hasn’t even begun to set yet! We’ve trained so hard, that we’re probably ready for the gym battle too. You’re a natural by the way, you really showed those other trainers whose boss! Anyways, it’s not very far to get there, all we have to do is make our way through that cave over there!”_

_Vivi wasn’t able to bring herself to say no to Choerry’s suggestion, and found herself reluctantly being dragged into the cave, hoping that it was as quick as she promised._

_Spoiler alert. It wasn’t._

“I hope you know just how lucky we are that we finally made it to Oreburgh City. It’s 11pm at night, and we can barely see where we’re going. What if you’d gotten hurt, or our Pokemon had? It was so risky… we should’ve just stayed in Jubilife City for the night.”

They’d only been together for 2 days so far, and yet one small hiccup in their plans had made Vivi ultra protective of Choerry, stunning them both. Vivi sighed, wrapping her arm around Choerry’s shoulder and pulling her closer.

“Sorry, I just worry you know? I feel obligated to protect you, since you’re younger than me. But hey, it’s okay. We’re here now, we can crash for the night and you can explain to me how gym battles work in this region?”  
“... so yeah, that’s basically how I think it works. That’s what my friends told me anyways. The gym leader of this town has remained the same for a long time, and so has the type. It should be easy for us, we have the right Pokemon to counter hers!”

The two girls had made their way to the Pokemon Centre, healing their Pokemon up before sitting down to talk. Vivi didn’t even have time to open her mouth and ask any questions before Choerry immediately began to explain again, making her laugh just a little bit.

“Oh wait, I should’ve explained. The leader of this town, Siyeon, uses rock type Pokemon.”

“So basically… we’ll be okay as long as we use our starters?”

“Yup! That said, just because we can get by with them for now, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be training our other Pokemon. We should aim to keep them around the same strength, which I think we’re doing pretty good on! Your Pokemon look stronger to me, I’d say they’re around the right strength to be right now!”

Choerry’s ability to roughly determine Pokemon’s strength just by looking at them stunned Vivi, but made her proud in a way. She seemed to be naturally intelligent to her, picking up on things quickly and adapting easily. As she watched Choerry pat her Turtwig’s head, she noticed just how tired she looked.

“How about we knock out for the night? We can get up at a reasonable time to do the battle tomorrow.”

Choerry nodded and quickly called all her Pokemon back. Assuming the sleeping arrangements would be the same as last time, Vivi settled down next to the couch to let Choerry take it. What she wasn’t expecting was for her to settle next to her, and loop their arms together before almost immediately falling asleep.

To say that Vivi was nervous to actually do the gym battle was a bit of an understatement. She had felt jittery ever since she had woken up, which hadn’t gone unnoticed by Choerry.

“Nervous, huh? I’m nervous too. I woke up feeling so nauseous this morning. I’m sure we’ll do well! We’ve both worked hard over the last 2 days to actually train our Pokémon. We should be excited too! We’re doing something new, which is what we both wanted right?”

Choerry flashed Vivi a bright smile as soon as she noticed that her jitteriness had started to ease, and gripped her arm just slightly.

“That said… how will we decide who’s going to go first? Actually never mind, our Poketch’s have a coin flip thing, we’ll use that! Winner gets to go second. Heads or tails?”

“... tails.”

Both of them watched in nervous anticipation as the coin began to flip on their screen, spinning a few times. The anticipation turned to confusion, as it landed on a Magikarp.

“So… do we assume Magikarp means… tails?”

“I guess so?”

“Well… I guess I’m going first!”

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

It was eerily quiet as they opened the doors to Oreburgh City Gym, and oddly dark as well. Their steps echoed as they walked into the main room of the gym.

“Are we too early? Maybe we should come back later and-“

Choerry was cut off by bright lights turning on, finally showing them their surroundings. The gym was decorated with rocks… lots of rocks. 

“Well… at least you can’t mix up what type this gym focuses on…”

Both Vivi and Choerry felt themselves jump back as they heard laughter, and spotted the gym leader standing at the front of the room.

“Glad you liked my decorating, I can’t really get too creative unfortunately… Siyeon is the name. Obviously I’m the gym leader for Oreburgh City. Oh, and sorry that it was so dark in here, you’re my first challengers for the day and you’re probably the earliest ones I’ve ever had.”

Siyeon’s easy-going introduction managed to calm Vivi and Choerry considerably, and instead of nerves, they began to feel some confidence.

“So… who’s going first?”

Choerry took a deep breath as she stood at the other end of the room, facing Siyeon. Vivi gave her an encouraging wave, which made her feel just a little bit better.

“We can start when you’re ready, no rush! This is your first gym battle right?”

Siyeon managed to see Choerry’s small nod, and nodded approvingly.

“Some people don’t even get this far, so for that you should feel proud. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

Choerry took another deep breath, then nodded and picked up a Pokeball.

“I’m ready!”

“Okay, just gotta tell you the basic rules. We’re both allowed to use 2 Pokémon each, and you can swap out Pokémon if you wish. I’m not allowed to. You can also forfeit the battle at any time if you become concerned for your Pokémon’s safety. We’re also both allowed to use items to heal up, if you need to. Alright, let’s start!”

And just like that, Choerry’s career as a Pokémon trainer had begun.

Choerry had heard rumours that gym leaders had a rotating team of Pokémon that they used for each challenge, to prevent burnout and over-exertion in their Pokémon. She was still shocked however, when she saw Siyeon’s first Pokémon was an Onix. And the only Pokémon Choerry had planned on using was Turtwig, because she wanted to truly test it’s strength.

_That Onix is huge… my poor Turtwig is going to get crushed…_

_Okay, what moves does my Turtwig know… and what moves might that Onix know?_

Choerry spent so much time focusing on trying to remember the moves that both her and Siyeon’s Pokemon knew, that she barely noticed that Siyeon’s Onix was beginning to move its tail towards her Turtwig.

_I hope Turtwig is extra receptive to my commands, otherwise this’ll be over very quickly…_

“Turtwig, look out for its tail!”

She could barely breathe as she looked on at the scene before her. Her Turtwig seemed unsure of where to go, and seemed to be panicking itself.

_Wait, it might be picking up on my nervousness…_

“Turtwig, it’s okay! Just jump back when it gets close!”

Her guidance seemed to work better than the earlier vague command, and her Turtwig jumped back easily when the Onix swung its tail closer.

_Okay, note to self, give more direct commands._

Choerry just barely heard her opponent’s command for the next move, but she swore she heard the word ‘rock’.

_Well go figure, genius… it’s a rock gym. If it’s rock throw, then rocks could potentially start piling up… what do I do…_

Her suspicions were confirmed correct, as the Onix began to pick up rocks with its tail, and began to attempt to aim.

_Gotta admit… I didn’t know Onix could even do that… I think I’ll go on the defensive._

“Turtwig, when that rock gets thrown, use withdraw!”  
As soon as the rock left the Onix’s tail, her Turtwig immediately hid in its shell. There was a small moment of panic, when Choerry began to panic about just how heavy that rock was. Her panic quickly ended, as the rock bounced off of her Turtwig’s shell, and instead managed to hit the Onix square in the eyes, causing both Vivi and Siyeon to laugh momentarily.

_Okay… I wasn’t expecting that… I may as well take advantage of it now and hit it with some grass type moves._

“Turtwig, see if you can climb onto the Onix while its confused, and use razor leaf!”

Her Turtwig almost immediately began to run up the rocks of the Onix’s tail, and leaves almost immediately began to barrage the Onix. The Onix already seemed to be becoming quite weak, as the leaves were relentless.

_Well, I guess I should make use of the TM I borrowed before I left…_

“Try and finish it off with bullet seed!” 

And just like that, the Onix began to fall over, startling her Turtwig.

_One Pokemon down, one more to go._

Choerry watched as Siyeon called back her Onix, and almost immediately sent out another Pokemon. She began to panic once again, realising she couldn’t recognise what it was.

_I’m not good with rock types… but I recognise this as one that she was rumoured to always use…_

“Cranidos, use headbutt!”

_Ah, so that’s what it is… wait… headbutt? Oh no, the horns on its head will do so much damage!_

“Turtwig, try and dodge it! Jump out of its way!”

The Cranidos was incredibly fast, and Turtwig was only able to get partially out of the way, still sustaining a serious hit. Her Turtwig struggled to get back up, and she couldn’t let it suffer through that kind of pain.

“Turtwig, return!”

_Well… I do have the Psyduck still, and I did make sure it was around the same strength as Turtwig… Though I’m not sure just how receptive it can be to commands._

As Choerry sent out her Psyduck, the shock on Siyeon’s face almost made her uncontrollably laugh.

“Hold up, you have a shiny Psyduck? Wait, I’m getting distracted, let’s talk about this later. Cranidos, headbutt again!”

“Quick, hide behind that pile of rocks!”

Thankfully, her Psyduck almost immediately dove a small pile of rocks, and the Crandios charged into the pile of rocks, stumbling back in pain.

“Okay, now’s your chance! Use water gun Psyduck!”

Her Psyduck immediately began to douse the Cranidos in water, and she watched as it recoiled in an attempt to get away, falling backwards into a pile of rocks. She watched as it began to move the rocks away, but almost jumped out of happiness as it fell over.

“I think we have a clear winner here. Congratulations on winning your first gym battle!”

“Okay, I’ll be back to do your battle next Vivi! I’m just gonna go heal up my Pokemon and grab some badges for you guys, cause I think I’ll be handing out two.” Siyeon gave them both a wave, and then began to walk away, until she stopped suddenly.

“Oh… I forgot to tell you before we started, I had a friend who may have watched our battle… and will probably stick around. Maybe she’ll introduce herself… well she better! Because otherwise this is awkward. Okay, bye now!”

Vivi and Choerry blinked at each other in stunned silence, before turning around and trying to spot where this mystery person was. No matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t find them. They weren’t behind any rocks, and she wasn’t in any door ways-

“We’re up here! I guess you didn’t notice the seats. Or Siyeon didn’t notice Chuu...”

Sitting in the seats surrounding the main battle area were two girls, waving at them sheepishly.

“You were amazing in that battle! Choerry right? Oops sorry, I should introduce myself. I’m Kim Lip-”

“And I’m Chuu! Nice to meet you.”

The only thought running through both Choerry and Vivi’s heads was one of amazement… at how they managed to not notice two quite loud girls.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━ 

“Okay guys, I’m back! Let me know when you’re ready, I’m super excited for our second battle.”

Vivi nodded, and was almost ready to begin, until Choerry grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

“I’m just going to warn you, her first Pokemon may not be the same.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, I did some research and apparently the earlier gym leaders have rotating teams. My friend told me that Siyeon used a Geodude against her, another friend said she used a Rhyhorn. And well… she used an Onix against me. Just warning you! Just use your Piplup, you’ll be fine.”

And just like that, Vivi was alone, facing Siyeon, and ready to start her own gym battle.

“So, do you remember the rules I told Choerry just before?”

“2 Pokemon each, I can swap Pokemon, you can’t. We can use items to heal our Pokemon, and I can forfeit at any time.”

“Sweet! Let’s start then!”

As Vivi sent out her own Pokemon, she waited with anticipation to see what Siyeon would be sending out. 

_I don’t really know Rhyhorn’s moveset, I only know what Choerry told me about Geodude, and what I could observe from the Onix earlier. I really hope it isn’t something unknown, I’m not too confident just yet…_

_It’s a Geodude… this should be easy, which is good because I’m most worried about that Cranidos, especially seeing as I only have one real counter._

Vivi remembered Choerry’s advice for this Pokemon, her reminders about working fast to get to the real challenge echoing in her head.

“Piplup, get up close and use bubble!”

She watched as her Piplup ran up to the Geodude, and then attacked it with a stream of bubbles. While they were quite weak, the aggressiveness and quickness with which her Piplup attacked startled the Geodude, making it unable to attack back.

“Start alternating with tackle as well as bubble! Try to confuse it!”

The Geodude was unable to truly hit back, only vaguely able to slightly get away before being attacked once again. Eventually it couldn’t take anymore, and as it began to fall over, Vivi heard quiet cheering from the seats. Somehow, Choerry had managed to get up there and was sitting with Kim Lip and Chuu while they watched. 

“Okay, I was not expecting you to be so aggressive, I like it. Ready for the next one?”

As Siyeon sent out her Cranidos, Vivi took a deep breath.

_Her Cranidos seems very strong, and I doubt that it’ll get tricked into running into the rock piles twice in a row… What can I do?_

Keeping a careful eye on the Cranidos, Vivi eyed the surroundings of the battle area, noticing that there were big open areas with no rocks.

_I have an idea…_

“Cranidos, headbutt!”

“Quick Piplup, run to the rock pile!”

Her suspicions were confirmed almost instantly, as the Cranidos immediately stopped charging when it realised where her Piplup was trying to hide. Well, I have some time to try and get that plan to work…

“Piplup, run into the middle and use water sport over as much area as possible!”

She watched as her Piplup ran into the open area, and while it looked confused at the command, it still started to create small puddles of water all over the open area. She noticed the Cranidos begin to start charging again, and she took another deep breath in anticipation.

_Now… hopefully this works…_

The Cranidos began to charge in Piplup’s direction, but her Piplup stood its ground. It seemed to have realised what she was trying to do, and seemed to trust her. As soon as the Cranidos stepped into the watery area she had created, it slipped almost immediately, falling into the almost mini pool of water.

“Quick, start to hit it with bubble, and tackle it a bit too!”  
As she watched her Piplup begin to tackle it, as well as hit it with a stream of bubbles, she couldn’t believe her plan had actually worked.

_Wow… is this what it feels like to make a good split decision in a battle? It feels amazing…_

Eventually she noticed her Piplup begin to ease up, and she noticed that the Cranidos was struggling to get up. Finally, it was called back by Siyeon, who was silent with shock.

“Out of all the battles I’ve ever had… that was probably the most creative way to win I’ve ever seen! This is going to be well deserved. Choerry, come down here too! It’s time to give out your gym badges!”

Choerry had already begun to make her way down, and immediately ran over to Vivi and grabbed her in an excited hug.

“We did it! We won our first gym battles!”

“Vivi, you’re honestly a natural… I’m amazed! How did you even think of that?”

“I wouldn’t say a natural, I think I just got lucky. And I figured it wouldn’t fall for the rock piles again, so I just decided to kind of… aggressively use its weakness?”

“See! Natural!”

Both Vivi and Choerry were beaming, arms linked as they left the Pokemon Centre to heal up their Pokemon before they set off again. Choerry took out a map from her backpack, and began to fold it out with Vivi’s help.

“Well… the next gym is in Eterna City, but we can’t take the short way there. You need bikes for that, and I’m pretty sure you can only get those in Eterna City… so we’ll be going back to Jubilife, then circling through this town here, and then it shouldn’t be long. Probably a couple of days worth of walking if you ask me…”

“Look, as long as you don’t get us lost in a cave again-”

“HEY!”


	9. [Episode #5]

“I think it’s a miracle that you didn’t get us lost in that cave, y’know.”

“It was so straight-forward, how could I get us lost!”

“You do realise that the other cave was exactly the same right? All we had to do was walk straight, and you made us take a bunch of turns…”

Just like that, Vivi and Choerry burst into laughter. The previously awkward silences from only two days ago that they had suffered through had quickly turned into easy-going, enjoyable banter. They were strolling easily through the northern part of Route 204, after quickly making their way through the connecting cave. There were no new Pokemon for them to register, or even to catch, and they found themselves already itching for something new.

“Oh, look over there! It’s a battle area. And it’s a double battle area! We should do some, it’ll be some good training and we can battle together!”

Choerry’s enthusiasm was infectious, and Vivi found herself being pulled over to the open area. They looked around, trying to see if there were any other pairs around, but they could only find a pair of younger kids.

“Is it even right for us to battle them? They look like they’re 10…”

“Choerry, aren’t most new trainers 10 anyways? We can ask them if they want to battle, and if they say no, they say no, right? I’d assume we’d be around the same strength since we’re in the same area right now…”

Choerry couldn’t find any fault in Vivi’s reasoning, and cautiously made her way over to the kids.

_Oh my god, they look younger than 10… I’m going to feel horrible if we actually win easily…_

Before she had even made it all the way over, the two kids had run over to her, yelling excitedly about wanting to battle.

_Well… at least I don’t even have to ask them?_

Before they had started, they felt horrible about trying to battle a pair of kids. Then one of them let slip that they were twins, and only 8 years old, and even Vivi felt herself feeling guilty. They were talking in hushed whispers while the two twins tried to decide what Pokemon to use.

“Okay, lets not undermine them by going too easy on them, right? We all agreed only 1 Pokemon each, so we should make the most of it. But maybe we shouldn’t like… absolutely destroy them.”

Vivi nodded, and then poked Choerry’s shoulder, drawing her attention to the twins who were ready to send their own Pokemon out.

“Thank you for battling with us! No one ever takes us seriously as trainers because we’re so young. Let’s start!”

All 4 of them sent their Pokemon out at the same time, just to be fair. The two twins had sent out a Pachirisu each, while Choerry sent out her Nincada, and Vivi her Starly.

“So… they both counter my Pokemon right?”

“Yeah, no matter what you sent out too. Isn’t it kinda cute that they both sent out a Pachirisu though?”

Vivi nodded, and then almost immediately regretted becoming distracted upon seeing her Starly just barely dodge an electric attack aimed straight at it.

“Oh, okay… we were worried about going too easy on them, but they’re going all out… well if that’s the case, let's do this!”

“Nincada, use fury swipes!”

The Nincada made its way over to a Pachirisu quickly, and swiped at it 3 to 4 times in succession before it was hit with an electric attack, startling it slightly. 

“Oh, Nincada! Be careful!”

“Quick Starly, quick attack! Help Nincada out!”

“Piggyback off that Nincada, use fury swipes again!”

Vivi and Choerry seemed to make a great team, calling out attacks at the same time, and coming to each other’s aid in a heartbeat. Before they knew it, the battle was over, and they had won, though not without a fight from the two twins.

“Thank you for battling us! It was nice to be taken seriously and not just handed a win.”

The two twins gave both Vivi and Choerry a high five before running off in the direction of the nearby town, likely in search of a Pokemon Centre.

“Well… that was kind of nice. We made a good team, didn’t we?”

Choerry nodded, flashing her signature bright smile while she looped their arms together once again.

“Well, Floaroma Town is just up ahead… ready to go?”

The two girls had decided to stop in Floaroma Town for awhile to sightsee, since they had gotten there in just under an hour. After healing up their Pokemon, they sat down with Choerry’s map so they could plan out their time.

“So… there’s a flower shop apparently, although I doubt it’s worth going. And the Floaroma Meadow! It’s famous for having some rarer Pokemon to spawn, and it’s also insanely pretty. I also want to get some honey from there, and send it back to my parents. It’s useful when raising certain Pokemon …”

While Choerry excitedly listed off the things she thought they could do, Vivi followed the path leading out of Floaroma Town, noticing there were two paths.

“So, what city did you say we’d be going to next?”

“Eterna City! We have to go through the forest to get there. Fuego Ironworks is closed, and Valley Windworks is only worth going to on Fridays, so once we finish here, we can just go straight there…”

At the very mention of the forest, Vivi felt a deep sense of dread quickly filling her, as well as worry.

_If we got lost in that cave… we’re doomed for the forest…_

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

Chaewon was impressed that Vivi and Choerry hadn’t gotten lost on the way to Floaroma Town, and was even more impressed while she watched them battle the two twins earlier. 

…

That said, she wasn’t too impressed with the arrogant older guy who challenged her to a battle, and then managed to spectacularly lose to her Spinda with only two moves, and was even less impressed when he started crying after losing so easily.

_Maybe you shouldn’t assume that younger girls are easy to beat, dummy…_

She’d followed them to Floaroma Meadow, hoping to catch a Combee to call her own. She’d wanted to raise one ever since she was young, thinking they were incredibly cute. She’d also decided to let Jinsoul know that she’d be here for awhile, and was just waiting around for her. Choerry had looked back at her a couple of times, but was quickly distracted by Vivi, who pulled out a camera to take her photo. They looked so close, and were having so much fun… and it made Chaewon’s heart tug just a little.

_I know it’s not exactly nice to be so bitter… but I really can’t help it. I miss the others so much…_

She was quickly shaken out of her brooding by a tapping on her shoulder, and her sadness quickly gave way to happiness upon seeing Jinsoul’s smiling face. She jumped up to give her a hug, clinging on tightly. 

_I really, really missed having her around…_

“...how have you been dear? Have your travels been good?”

And just like that, Chaewon felt herself about to cry. The loneliness of the last couple of days began to hit her all at once, and she clung on tighter.

“It hasn’t been that good, to be honest… it’s been lonely traveling on my own. But everyone is busy, y’know? I can’t ask other people to drop everything they’re doing and join me…”

She found herself unable to speak anymore, but Jinsoul didn’t pressure her to at all. She just hugged her, and comforted her.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

“I felt bad for that girl, she seemed really upset. I’m glad she had someone with her.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing her friend showed up when she did.”

Choerry and Vivi were making idle conversation as they made their way through the beginning parts of Eterna Forest, even though Vivi had protested going today in the first place. Choerry assured her that they would be in and out in no time, only stopping to catch Pokemon, and so far it had been true. They were making good progress, according to Choerry. Vivi swore that they had passed the same sign a few times already. Just as Vivi was about to question Choerry’s navigating ability, she noticed a small Pokemon that seemed caught in a bush. She tugged on Choerry’s sleeve, as she began to point it out.

“Should we try to get it out? It seems kind of distressed and-”

She didn’t even have to finish her sentence before she felt herself being tugged closer by Choerry. They crouched down in front of it, and began to discuss how to free it without harming it. 

“Should we try and get one of our Pokemon to make the opening a little bigger so it can get out?”

“We could still hurt it, or even risk them getting stuck too. How about one of us just pushes the bush open a bit, and the other tries to pull it out.”

Choerry nodded at this, and then tried to pull the bushes apart, and keep it apart. She watched as Vivi carefully grabbed the Pokemon, and slowly pulled it out and into her lap.

“So… now what?”

“Well, you did just pull it out and it seems kind of attached to you already, so why not catch it? It’s a Buneary by the way.”

Vivi eyed the Buneary sitting in her lap, and then took out a Pokeball and held it out, wanting it to decide if it wanted to come with her. It looked curiously at it, before booping it slightly with its nose, going inside.

“Aww, that was so cute! Now I can tell you about our little issue.”

“Our little issue?”

“Yeah, uh… we’re going to have to sleep here I think. I think I got us lost in the middle of the forest…”


	10. [Episode #6]

“Choerry.”

“Vivi…?”

“We are not sleeping in this forest. No, no, no, no, no. No way.”

“I don’t think we have any other choic-”

“We can try and find our way through. You said we were halfway through it, right? It shouldn’t be too hard, and I don’t think anyone else is here except for us.”

Vivi picked up her bag and took out the map, and also picked up the Pokeball that contained Buneary, contemplating letting it out and carrying it. She looked over at Choerry to ask her opinion, but was shocked to see that she was recalling her Nincada into its Pokeball.

_Well… that’s an answer enough for me. It might not be safe, it’s pretty dark out here. Even I’m feeling a little on edge, and barely anything scares me. I don’t even think we have a flashlight between the two of us…_

The feeling of a hand wrapping around her wrist startled Vivi, and she jumped around, ready to smack whatever was there. She had readied herself to smack them with her map, but as she followed the arm to its owner, she realised it was Choerry, clinging tightly.

“Choerry?”

“I don’t really like being here in the dark… this forest is kinda creepy, and I heard there’s a haunted house here. We should get going.”

Choerry’s hollow tone scared Vivi enough for her to begin walking, tugging her along. It was hard not to notice that the grip on her wrist got tighter with every turn or snap of a branch. They were struggling to make their way, tripping here and there in the darkness.

“You don’t happen to have a flashlight, do you? It might put us at ease.” Choerry didn’t speak, and only shook her head. Vivi didn’t notice her wide eyes staring behind her, nor did she notice that someone was walking towards them.

“Excuse me…”

A small voice made Vivi jump back into a bush, accidentally bringing Choerry with her and sending them both tumbling to the ground. The mystery person panicked, and jumped back themselves, but then ran forward to try and help them up. That’s when Choerry noticed a flashlight lying on the ground, where this person had been standing.

“You have a flashlight.”

“That’s… that’s why I said excuse me. I heard you say you didn’t have one. I thought saying something would startle you less than me just shining the flashlight onto you, but I guess not.”

The mystery person picked up their flashlight, and slightly illuminated all of their faces. Once Choerry had brushed off the leaves, she looked up properly, and was shocked.

_That’s the girl from the meadow… and also the person who was following us. How did they just magically end up here, what are the odds of that? Are they just following us? Do we have a stal-_

“Oh, I should introduce myself, since I guess we’ll be traveling together until we get out of here. I’m Chaewon.”

After they had finished all of their introductions, Chaewon shined her flashlight around them, and whistled softly.

“You guys are well and truly lost, huh…”

“You’re here too though, doesn’t that mean you’re just as lost as us?”

Chaewon paused for a moment, before bursting out into laughter at Vivi’s quick comeback. She nodded her head, and then looked behind her, taking the source of light with her.

“I think this is a dead end, so we should go back this way and then we can try and figure out where we are, okay?”

Desperate to get out of the forest as soon as possible, Vivi and Choerry frantically ran after her. They made their way into a wide clearing, with a sign sitting clearly in the middle. They walked over, and with the help of the flashlight, Chaewon began to read it out loud.

“Continue straight to arrive in Floaroma Town. Upwards for Old Chateau… yeah no thank you... Left for Eterna City. Well, unless you want to go to a haunted house, I think the choice is clear, yeah?”

Choerry frantically shaking her head made Chaewon chuckle slightly. “Yeah, me too.”  
With Chaewon’s expert navigation, the three of them found themselves at the edge of Eterna Forest within 30 minutes, much to Choerry’s relief. Vivi took a quick look at her Poketch, and was startled to see that it was 2:24am already.

_Didn’t we enter that forest around 8pm? How did we get stuck in there for so long?_

“Well, we’re free! Eterna City is just up there, you can’t miss it.”

“Thank you for helping us out! I didn’t think we would get so lost, especially since there were so many signs saying which way to go…”

Chaewon pat Choerry’s shoulder sympathetically. “It’s a big forest, it took a long time before I could ever find my way through it. Anyways, I’m going to leave you now! Enjoy your journey!”

Before Vivi and Choerry could say a word, Chaewon ran back into the forest, stunning them both.

“What… what just happened?”

“I think we just made a friend… but we also survived Eterna Forest! Now… let’s get to a Pokemon Centre and sleep.”


	11. [Interlude #3]

My to-do list everyday has always remained the same:

Wake up at 5am.   
Train with my Pokemon until 8am.   
Let them rest, eat breakfast.   
Sit around and wait for challengers.  
Close the gym around 5pm.  
Catch up with the other gym leaders.  
Return to the gym.  
Train with my Pokemon until 11pm.  
Sleep.

I am so, so tired of it.

I wasn’t always so tired of being a gym leader. I used to be tired of people constantly questioning my decision to remain a gym leader for so long. 

_“Oh, hasn’t it been at least 6 years? Don’t you want a change?”_

_“You should really try for an elite four position, or even try to become the new champion! Your talent is wasted here.”_

_“It’s disappointing, letting yourself waste away here…”_

Are these meant to be back-handed compliments? They say they’re complimenting my ‘talent’ and yet they’re undermining my decision making process. Being a gym leader was my dream ever since I was a kid, so why would I give it up after a year? Or 2? Or even 6? I worked so hard to become one of the youngest gym leaders our region has ever had, and yet all anyone cares about is that I haven't advanced my career as a trainer at all. 

The passion that was behind all of my actions has slowly dwindled away, and now there is only enough to get me through a few battles a day. I used to keep my gym open until 8pm, usually skipping the catch-ups with other leaders. The official league meetings were more important, anyways. But now… it feels so thankless. I’ve heard the rumours that float around, that I let trainers win for the sake of it, but they aren’t true. I would never do that.

There’s no point in it anyways. These days, it’s as if trainers are… cocky? They’re overly confident, and while confidence is a good thing… well. Trainers take the win for granted, assuming they’re so skilled, and they’ll breeze through the rest of the gyms easily… the shock on their faces when they lose so easily to Lip is satisfaction enough for me, after the rude treatment I get from some trainers. 

That’s the worst part about being the 2nd gym leader of the region, I think. People assume that us gym leaders were ranked by skill, and that’s how we’re in the order that we’re in.  
…  
It’s laughable, really. Siyeon is probably one of the most talented trainers I’ve ever met, and she’s the first gym leader of the region. She took the role in her stride, purposely raising a separate team of rock Pokemon so that she wouldn’t accidentally discourage new trainers, while maintaining her own team of beloved rock Pokemon, and practically destroying me in battle. And, not to brag, but… I wouldn’t say I’m the 2nd worst out of the 8 of us, either. I don’t think people realise that only the elite four are ranked in order, not us gym leaders.

I loved being a gym leader.

I loved encouraging new trainers.

I loved, with all my heart, supporting the new gym leaders as they joined, ensuring their confidence wasn’t shattered.

I loved just… battling.

But not anymore.

It’s time for Yves, the longest running gym leader of Sinnoh, to leave it behind. At least for now.


	12. [Episode #7]

It’d been about 2 hours since Vivi and Choerry had woken up, and they still hadn’t left the Pokemon Centre. Choerry had yet to fully wake up, falling asleep on Vivi’s shoulder at every opportunity. While she thought it was cute, Vivi was itching to get going, to sightsee around Eterna City, and then challenge the gym. She also had to admit, she was pretty lonely with no one to talk to. In a few short days, she’d become used to Choerry’s talkative nature, and enjoyed the lack of silence between them. 

Unsurprisingly, Choerry’s Nincada appeared sound asleep, as if it was mimicking it’s owner. She then noticed that even their Pokemon were becoming impatient, almost breaking out into little fights. Her Piplup and Starly seemed especially agitated, almost taking it out on each other a few times, and she had to keep moving them apart to prevent getting kicked out from the Pokemon Centre. As soon as she moved slightly to break them up for the 5th time, she felt a soft tap on her shoulder.

“Long time no see, huh?”

Vivi looked up to see Siyeon smiling down at her, and she moved over slightly so that she could sit.

“Oh yeah, way too long…”

They both burst into quiet laughter, trying their best not to wake Choerry. Their attempt was futile however, as Choerry began to sit up slowly.

“Jeez… what time is it…”

“Morning sleepyhead. It’s about 11am!” Hearing Siyeon’s voice seemed to startle Choerry, and she jumped slightly in her seat, no longer asleep.

“Siyeon?”

“That’s my name!”

It took everything Vivi had to not burst into laughter at their exchange as she scooped up her Buneary in her arms, pleased with how it had healed quickly overnight.

“Anyways, I’m here to give you some bad news. The gym in this city is closed, indefinitely.”

“...yeah, we don’t know where she is. She seems to have just disappeared. It doesn’t surprise me, she seemed quite fed up the last time we talked. It’ll take some time for a new gym leader to be chosen, so I recommend that you try to make your way to Veilstone City and challenge the gym leader there. Unless she shows up and we can cancel the process, it’ll be a long time before this city has a gym leader again. We only recently chose the new gym leader for Hearthome City, that took almost 4 months and-”

They were all distracted from Siyeon’s explanation by the Centre’s TV suddenly turning on, signifying an announcement.

_“We’re pleased to announce that a new Elite Four member has been inducted. Yeojin, only 17 years old, has been chosen personally by the Elite Four themselves. We are all waiting in anticipation to see how she fares, and we wish her good luck.”_

“Oh shoot, I was meant to be back at the gym an hour ago! I’ll see you guys around, stay safe.”

And with that, Siyeon ran off, leaving Vivi and Choerry sitting stunned at the couch. Vivi turned to Choerry to ask her what she wanted to do for the day, but she paused when she saw Choerry’s face. She seemed shocked, and her eyes seemed almost watery.

“Choerry?”

“Ah, sorry! It just… stings. Yeah, it stings! She’s younger than me, but she’s obviously been on a journey for a long time…”

Vivi nodded in understanding, before pulling Choerry into a hug. “I was going to ask what you wanted to do today, since we can’t exactly challenge the gym just yet. But maybe we should just chill in here for now, yeah?”


	13. [Interlude #4]

Choerry was always known as her town’s social butterfly, she knew everyone, and she socialised with anyone easily. Her ability to make friends was astonishing, her warm personality and positivity drawing people in and making them feel safe.

Despite her sociable nature, she only had a few close friends. There was Haseul, an older girl, who moved to their town just after she turned 11. She was quite close with her, constantly feeling entertained by her stories of her journey in another region, far away. With Haseul, came Heejin. They bonded quite quickly, and she became used to Heejin’s constant affection. But on Choerry’s 14th birthday, the news was broken to her. Haseul and Heejin had left to explore Sinnoh, and Heejin would be embarking on her proper journey.

It stung a little when they left, leaving her all alone. She had thought that maybe they would go together, explore together. She had off-handedly mentioned just how much she wanted to go on a journey, but was unsure if her own parents would let her. When she dwelled on that, the unhappiness she felt stung even more. But she put her sadness into the work at the Daycare, and thrived off of the letters that her two friends wrote her. 

Then she met the two people she would become incredibly attached to.

Yeojin, and Olivia Hye (Hye or Ollie for short.)

Choerry had never had a friend the same age as her before. The rest of them left as soon as they could, sick of the town they lived in, and the quiet life. Hye was different. She lived in a city, and her parents decided to move to a quiet town. She was shy, and incredibly quiet. But they bonded eventually, and soon they were inseparable. They made plans to convince Choerry’s parents about letting her go on a journey, and even planned what kind of Pokemon they would like to train. 

As for Yeojin… they bonded over her Nincada. Yeojin was probably the only person who didn’t cringe at her Nincada, and did not feel as if it was disgusting. Yeojin even helped out with the Daycare from time to time, enjoying the interactions with a variety of Pokemon. She felt particularly drawn to the abandoned Pokemon, and Choerry had the joy of watching Yeojin encounter her own companion. The fact that they both had companions in such a quiet town made them even closer, and soon she had a new perfect group of friends.

Unfortunately, not all perfect things are meant to last.

The first to leave was Olivia Hye. She didn’t leave willingly, was dragged away to another town by her parents. They felt it was too quiet here, and that she would never grow, and so they shipped her off to another City, just one that was quieter, but still ‘allowed’ growth. They tried to stay in touch, writing weekly letters. But the weekly letters turned into fortnightly letters, and fortnightly turned into monthly. And then they stopped coming. Choerry never stopped writing, hoping that they were possibly getting lost in transit. Yeojin didn’t have the heart to tell her exactly why she wasn’t getting any replies. Yeojin had heard the stories, of a raven-haired trainer who practically tore through all of the gyms, and any of her opponents. She heard the whispers, that this mysterious trainer constantly said that she was heart-broken, after leaving everything behind. And she was certain that it was their Ollie.

Yeojin didn’t leave for a long time. In fact, she didn’t leave until a few months before Choerry’s 18th birthday. She came up to her guiltily, and Choerry knew immediately what was going to happen. She’d seen it before from her more temporary friends, who knew about the situation with her parents. Yeojin explained herself over and over again, trying so hard to not break Choerry’s heart. But it didn’t work, how could it? Choerry was going to be alone again. Yeojin promised to write, almost daily if she wanted. And she did, and still was. But it didn’t stop the stinging every time she looked at her Nincada, reminiscing fonder memories.

She remained alone, because there was no one else left. All the younger people had left for their own journeys, and she was stuck there forever. That is, until the best day of her life so far. The day she met Vivi, everything changed. She was able to finally go on a journey, and she suddenly had a new friend. But in the back of her mind, there was a small shred of worry. What if Vivi left her, just like everyone else?


	14. [Episode #8]

Vivi and Choerry didn’t plan on spending too much time in Eterna City. Choerry seemed too down to really enjoy the sightseeing, so they decided to only stop by one place. Choerry described it as an essential for aspiring trainers, and dragged Vivi there so they could leave faster.

“...Binnie’s Bicycle Store?”

“We’ll need these to get through lots of the region, it’s basically a necessity to travel in Sinnoh. I’m pretty sure we literally have to go through a road called the Cycling Road so…”

Choerry turned away for a minute, and then turned around with a worried expression.

“I don’t think we have enough money though…”

“Hello again…”

A soft voice directly behind them startled Vivi and Choerry, and they jumped back to see Chaewon standing there and laughing at them.

“How are you so quiet and stealthy, seriously…”

“I really didn’t think I was that quiet until I met you guys, honestly. Anyways, you guys need bikes right? I can do you a favour if you do me one.”

Vivi and Choerry looked at each other, clearly stunned. A random girl, who they were convinced was stalking them just earlier, was suddenly offering them help all the time?

“What do we have to do for you?”

“All I ask… is that you let me travel with you.”

“So… you’re willing to buy us both a bike and all we have to do is let you travel with us?”

“Yeah. I’m going to be honest, I’m not cut out to travel alone, it’s too lonely. Besides, I know my way around this region pretty well, and you guys seemed to have gotten lost a few times…”

“Alright… but you have to let us pay you back when we can.” 

Chaewon shook her head at this, and opened the door to the store. “Come on, let’s pick out what colour we want.”

Choerry and Vivi easily picked the colours they wanted, settling for a purple and pastel pink one respectively. Choerry seemed to question Vivi’s choice, but Vivi pointed at her hair and shrugged her shoulders. Chaewon on the other hand took a little longer, taking almost 15 minutes before she finally settled on a yellow one.

“Yellow?”

“Yellow is just… a nice colour? Yeah, it’s a nice colour.”

Chaewon refused to let Vivi and Choerry see how much the bikes cost and went out of her way to hide it, to their annoyance and the owner’s amusement.

“You’re making us feel guilty you know…”

“Trust me, I can afford it. Anyways… let's start assembling these things.”

The owner, who introduced herself as Binnie, told them it would only take maybe 30 minutes tops to assemble the bikes. 30 minutes passed, which then turned into an hour… and once it turned into 2 hours, Binnie stepped in.

“You guys go and get something to eat, I’ll finish these up and you can come get them when you’re done. Okay?”  
Vivi was extremely grateful that they had managed to get the bikes, even if she felt guilty about letting Chaewon pay for them. Choerry seemed to be having the time of her life as she cycled down the path, the biggest smile on her face. They made it down the entirety of Route 206 in no time, speeding through quickly. Lots of the trainers who were there avoided them, though Vivi couldn’t put her finger on exactly why.

“I bet they’re just intimidated, you two look like really good trainers now.” Chaewon tried to reassure her, but Vivi still didn’t understand why people wouldn’t want to battle.

“Guys!”

Choerry grabbed their attention, and they realised that she was much further down than they were. Once they had cycled down to where she was, she jumped off her bike and leaned it against Chaewon’s.

“I’ll be right back, I want to do something now that we can access this part of Route 207.”

“We’re… we’re already on Route 207?”

Vivi and Chaewon made small talk as they kept an eye on Choerry while they waited.

“... so you were a model? You must’ve made a decent amount of money then.”

“Yeah, although by the time I converted the money from Kalos’ currency to Sinnoh’s… it’s like I basically had no money.”

This made Chaewon chuckle, which in turn made Vivi smile softly. She was worried that they would be awkward for awhile, but Chaewon seemed friendly enough that it didn’t happen.

“What about you?”

“Ah… I was a trainer before this all. But it came at a price, I was too focused on gaining strength and becoming the best that I basically never actually travelled. So I decided to travel slowly this time, but it’s so lonely on your own and…”

Chaewon was cut off by Choerry excitedly running up to them, brandishing a new Pokeball.

“I caught it! Finally!”

As she let it out, Vivi prepared herself. She knew Choerry didn’t like conventional Pokemon, and she was honestly expecting a giant bug. But she was stunned to see a small horse, one that she immediately recognised.

“A Ponyta? What?”


	15. [Episode #9]

Vivi and Choerry decided to spend as much time training as they possibly could while they were on the move, in an effort to prepare for the gym in Hearthome City. It didn’t help that the trainers they battled against told horror stories of the gym leader being powerful, wiping out her challengers with only 1 Pokemon.

“This sucks, we didn’t even get to test our skills against Eterna City’s gym leader. We’re going to get absolutely destroyed…”

“I already felt nervous enough before Siyeon’s gym battle… this is going to be even worse since everyone’s said she’s so powerful, how are we even going to-”

Chaewon’s coughing cut off Vivi mid-sentence, and she turned to look at her, only to be met with an intense glare.

“You guys are going to sike yourselves out before you even get there. If it’s still who I think it is, yes, she’s a powerful gym leader, but she is defeatable. You’ll be fine alright?”

Once they had exhausted all the trainers on Route 207, the group finally began to move through Mt. Coronet. Vivi couldn’t help noticing the rubble everywhere, blocking off entrances to different pathways, and signs of a fight all over the walls. Chaewon noticed her observing their surroundings, and decided to do some investigating of her own. She very rarely got to hear about other region’s experiences of what Sinnoh had gone through a few years ago, and wanted to take the opportunity while she could.

“Oh yeah… you’re from Kalos right? Did you ever hear about Team Galactic while you were over there?” Vivi immediately began to nod, so Chaewon continued. “Well, this is the place where it all happened. Not down here, of course, but further up. In an effort to prevent that ever happening again, the Champion and the Elite Four blocked off all entrances to the upper levels except for the path to Snowpoint City which was altered with the help of Siyeon and her rock Pokemon. They took every precaution possible, they even blocked off access to the Three Lakes except for particular times of the year...”

“It’s hard to believe that was 2 years ago… oh! Vivi, did you guys experience anything over there because of this? They said it might’ve had catastrophic effects on other regions, not just ours.”

Vivi was quiet for a while, only nodding slightly. Choerry began to worry that she might’ve brought up some bad memories, and was about to move the conversation to a different subject before Vivi started talking.

“Yeah… we were one of the regions that got affected by the time vortexes. I was lucky, I was nowhere near it, but lots of my friends were. One day we were the same age, the next, they were all way older than me. It was weird.

“And that’s exactly why we took precautions. If that ever happened again…”

The conversation drifted off after that, and they walked together in silence until they exited Mt. Coronet. It took awhile for their eyes to adjust to the blinding sunlight, but they had finally made it to Route 208.

Chaewon looked around, and spotted many, many trainers. She grinned as she pointed them out, enjoying the fact that she could sit back and just watch for once, with no obligation to actually battle. Yes, she got some weird looks sometimes, but she just shrugged them off with excuses, saying she wasn’t a trainer, just a traveler. 

The two of her companions dealt with all of these trainers easily, and before they knew it they had exhausted them all once again. They made their way to a big patch of tall grass, to train on wild Pokemon.

That was the plan, until Choerry shrieked loudly at the Pokemon she had encountered, almost scaring it off. Chaewon wandered over, and then did a double take at Choerry’s luck. Once Vivi made her way over, they circled the Pokemon so it wouldn’t escape while they talked.

“What do we do, this is so rare and hard to find… and I’m sure it’s something we all want.”

“Yeah, I mean… I have been trying to catch one of these since I was actually a trainer, and that was 4 years ago.” Choerry stared at Chaewon, dumbfounded. “Yeah, I was a late start…”

“Uh guys… what is this Pokemon?”

“It’s a Ralts! Here, look at my guide book.”

“I really like this evolution…”

“Yeah, Gallade is why I really want it…” Chaewon trailed off, deep in thought. After thinking for a few moments, she grinned again before taking out a Pokeball. “How about one of us just catches it for now, and we can decide who gets it at Hearthome City? I have the perfect idea…”

Vivi and Choerry stared at her blankly, so Chaewon explained further. “Guys, please… Hearthome City isn’t just known for it’s insanely powerful Gym Leader. It's known for it Pokemon Contests!”

To Vivi’s dismay, Choerry loved the idea, nodding quickly. 

“Let's do it, I’ve always wanted to take part in one!”

Chaewon threw the ball immediately at the Ralts, only for it to bounce back and hit her in the face. “Oh yeah… we have to weaken it. Guys, why don’t one of you weaken it?”

Vivi decided to take the honor, sending out a random Pokemon of her choice. Choerry shrieked again once she saw the Pokemon she sent out.

“Your Piplup has already evolved? When did this happen? I didn’t even notice… my Turtwig hasn’t even evolved yet either… Chaewon, why are you laughing?”

“Choerry… your Turtwig literally evolved maybe 3 minutes ago.”

“Oh…”

Once Chaewon had captured the Ralts, with Vivi’s help, they set off towards Hearthome City. Since it was already getting dark, they decided to do the Pokemon Contest tomorrow. Chaewon explained the basics of how they worked to Choerry, reassuring her that she would help them outfit wise, since they were taking it so seriously. The basic rules of their competition would be as follows; whoever places highest in the Contest would receive the Ralts. If for some reason, that person did not want it, it would go to the next highest placer from their group. 

As they settled down in a Pokemon Centre for the night, Choerry began to excitedly list off all the reasons why she was so excited, ranging from it being a new experience, to a weird story where she witnessed a boot-leg Contest in her hometown, and wanted to experience the real thing.

“Vivi, aren’t you excited? I’m so excited!”  
“Yeah… definitely…”

Spoiler: Vivi was not excited. She was dreading it.


	16. [Episode #10]

Vivi had hoped that she just dreamt up Chaewon’s idea of a Contest to decide who would be the owner of the Ralts they had caught, but as soon as she woke up, she overheard the remnants of Choerry’s excited conversation with Chaewon.

_Well… there’s no escaping it now… or hiding that secret I gue-_

“Good morning Vivi! Today’s the day!” Choerry had run over the second she noticed Vivi was awake, and Vivi couldn’t help feeling her enthusiasm rub off on her just a little bit. It was hard not to share in it, especially since it made her so happy. That said, Vivi had quite literally just woken up, and wasn’t expecting Choerry to practically jump in her lap.

“Morning sunshine, and good morning Chae!”

Chaewon looked up in surprise, before smiling just slightly. She hadn’t expected Vivi to warm up to her so quickly, thinking it would take awhile before she got accepted into their group.

“Ah… good morning!”

“So… I should tell you guys. Usually contests don’t run on this day… but I’m friends with one of the usual judges and she said she’d help us run one! I found some other people who could participate with us too, just so it’s a little less awkward.” 

Choerry stared at Chaewon in disbelief for a solid 30 seconds before she finally spoke. “You… you basically just organised a mini contest for us?”

“Yeah, sorry… I know you wanted to do a real one. Maybe we can one day, if we’re lucky and they line up when we’re in a different town.”

“No, this is amazing! I can’t believe you even organised this…”

Vivi tuned out of their conversation again, tightly clasping her own hands together. She hadn’t realised that they ran Contests in Sinnoh, and was just slightly annoyed that Haseul had never told her about this. If she had known… well she would’ve brought more of her Contest Outfits over from Kalos.

While Vivi was deep in thought, she didn’t notice the stream of people entering the Pokemon Centre, capturing her friends’ attention. It wasn’t until she felt a light tap on her shoulder did Vivi notice a familiar face standing right behind her.

“Haseul? Oh, you cut your hair too! Wait, what are you doing her-”  
Vivi stopped mid sentence when she noticed Choerry softly crying into a girl’s shoulder, and Chaewon’s bewildered face at the sight in front of her as she. She also noticed that the two girls she had met at Siyeon’s gym were here, as well as Siyeon herself, a taller blonde next to Chaewon, and another unfamiliar face. And each and every one of them looked slightly panicked at the scene in front of them.

“Yeah, I recently cut it… and… long story. The girl who’s shoulder Choerry is crying into is called Heejin. We both knew Choerry a long time ago.”

“Oh…”

It took awhile to calm Choerry down, but once the story was explained to everyone there, the mood changed from panicked to sympathetic. Heejin had an arm wrapped tightly around Choerry’s shoulders, the other gripping Chaewon’s arm tightly. As Chaewon explained the Contest situation to the two unfamiliar faces, Siyeon winked at Vivi and Choerry as she walked over.

“Long time no see, huh?”

“Siyeon…”

“Choerry…”

“Are you ever at your gym? Just asking…”

Siyeon laughed at this, ruffling her hair slightly. “Yeah, I promise I’m usually there more often. Since so many other gym leaders were going to be closing their gyms to come, the League decided to just announce a region-wide gym closure. They said something about important League business… so I took it seriously… but here I am.”

“Alright guys, I think some introductions are in order. Everyone, this is Vivi and Choerry, if you haven’t already met them. Just as a quick recap, that’s Siyeon, obviously, and these two attached-at-the-hip dorks are Chuu and Lip. This is Heejin, that’s Haseul, and this is my friend Jinsoul. And this is Dami. Basically… everyone here is taking part in this contest in some way!”

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

It took them some time to figure out who would be doing what, but it was eventually settled, with some intense arguing between Lip and Chuu about whether or not Lip should compete. Of course, Vivi, Chaewon and Choerry would be competing in the Contest, and they were going to be joined by Heejin, Jinsoul, and Siyeon. Dami, Haseul and Chuu were going to be the judges, and Lip, for some reason, decided that she wanted to be the MC. 

Once they had decided everything, they made their way over to the Contest Hall. The competitors settled in the dressing room area, so that they could pick out an outfit to wear. Some of them picked their outfits easily: Siyeon settled for a suit-like outfit, with eye-catching details along the jacket of the outfit. Jinsoul picked out what appeared to be a simple blue dress, however, the top of the dress gave off the illusion of dark colours under any bright lights, while the bottom looked flowy, as if it was water. 

Heejin had brought her own outfit, and Chaewon’s, over with her. Heejin’s outfit appeared to be simple, as it was just a white dress and heels. When questioned, she gave the excuse that she had barely any time to prepare, and just decided to bring something that she thought would look nice. As for Chaewon… she called her look ‘gothic inspired’, deciding to wear a purple and black dress, with intense lace detailing, and small butterflies scattered around it. She also decided to sport a small matching mask to complete her look.

Choerry seemed to struggle the most when it came to picking her outfit. In the end, she asked Heejin to pick something for her, just so that she wouldn’t hold everyone else up. Even Heejin struggled, picking out multiple outfits before deciding to scrap the idea of a traditional dress, opting instead for a cohesive two-piece purple outfit. It was something no one would have expected, yet everyone agreed that it really did suit her. And for Vivi… she shocked everyone by pulling out a dress from her bag, neatly folded. It was regal looking, shorter in the front yet long in the back, and was a deep burgundy colour.

While the others were taking turns getting changed, Heejin pulled Choerry aside. She told her it was so she could do her hair, but she really wanted to just catch up. It had been a few years since they had last spoken, since she was insanely busy all of the time.

“Ponytail okay?”

“Whatever you want to do, I don’t mind.” Choerry’s voice was unusually quiet, and Heejin could tell that she was still upset after earlier. And she couldn’t blame her, not after practically disappearing from her life.

“You dyed your hair?”

“Yeah, I needed a change and since my parents wouldn’t me leave the town, I decided to just experiment with my hair. But I really like the pink…” Choerry trailed off, but Heejin didn’t need her to finish the sentence to know what she would say.

Pink was always their thing, after all.

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After roughly an hour, they were finally ready to begin the contest. Dami, Haseul & Chuu had somehow managed to get the voting panel working, despite the fact that the Contest Hall had limited power running on it’s day off. All of the contestants were ushered back stage, and given basic instructions so that Lip could formally begin the Contest.

“Welcome… Gym Leaders… and trainers… to a special one-off League Official Contest! Today’s contest is to help Chaewon, Choerry and Vivi to decide who will be the Ralts’ owner. Now I’ll introduce all of our contestants. First up, Oreburgh’s “barely-ever-there” gym leader Siyeon, competing with her… Cranidos? Okay then…” 

Siyeon shot Kim Lip a glare as she walked past her, ushering her Crandios in front of her, flaunting the bow she had tied around its neck. “Next up… Jinsoul, the one who “absolutely hates water types” but is competing with a Lumineon! Wait… how the hell are you going to compete with that… anyways… next up is the always elegant Heejin, competing with an equally elegant Roserade!”

“And now, the real competitors- ow, c’mon it’s true! You guys are just here for a day off. Anyways, introducing the incredibly extra Chaewon, competing with her trusty Spinda. Next up, the one who has been described as an “ultimate sunshine”, Choerry! She will be competing with a Psyduck… oh my god it’s shiny. And last, but certainly not least, the regal Vivi, competing today with her Buneary. We’re finally ready to begin the contest!”

“Okay, so first up… the style competition. You can all accuse Siyeon of cheating now.” Lip narrowly avoided Siyeon’s attempt to shove her, laughing before continuing. “I have a box of props here, you all have 1 minute to put something together. At the end, the judges will score you all, and I’ll laugh at whoever’s is the worst! Alright… your time starts now!”

They all stared at the box, wondering how best to allow each contestant time to go through it… that was until Heejin rolled her eyes and tipped the box over, spilling the contents on the stage for them each to easily access.

“Can we give her extra points for that?”

“No Dami, you can’t… well I don’t know, this isn’t a proper contest. Let’s just say no. 40 seconds by the way!”

Everyone dived for the props, trying to find something suitable for their Pokemon. Vivi, Chaewon and Heejin all grabbed a few items and did not return to the pile at all, whereas Choerry and Siyeon were constantly running back and forth. Jinsoul only went back a few times, constantly laughing about her idea.

“Times up!”

“Already? Are you actually timing this?”

“Dami is timing! Are you going to argue with her, Siyeon?”

…

“Y’know what, never mind! I’m sure it’s correct!”

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“Okay, in the order I introduced you in, please present your Pokemon and explain your process. Our lovely judges will evaluate you all at the end of everyone’s presentation.”

Siyeon had to aid her Cranidos over to the front of the stage, as it was stumbling slightly. “Well apparently I cheated by tying a bow around his neck, so I just decided to go nuts with the bows. As you can see, he has bows on his head, he has bows tied around his arms… yeah! This was painful to get on by the way.”

Jinsoul wheeled out the tank her Lumineon was in, immediately making everyone laugh. “Well… she’s a fish. None of these props were waterproof, so my concept was… stickers. Lots and lots of stickers, as many water themed ones as I could find. That’s all!”

Heejin had to contain her laughter as she walked with her Roserade to the front of the stage. “I went for an explorer kind of look, I gave my Roserade a little hat, and a bandana to wear around her neck! I also decorated with these kind of… stones? Just to complete the whole look.”

Chaewon imitated her Spinda as they stumbled to the front of the stage, making everyone laugh. “Well I decided to try and match Spinda with my outfit. So I attached some black and purple bows, and found the only mask they had. Please don’t penalise me for it not matching, I did the best I could do!” 

She imitated her Spinda again as they walked back to the line, laughing slightly at how it seemed to cheer Choerry up as she walked past her.“Well… okay I didn’t know how to really style my Psyduck. I basically took the little fluff balls we have, and gave him pom-poms… I also gave him a flag! I’m calling this… lazy cheerleader! Yeah!” 

Vivi laughed as she walked up with Buneary, holding it before letting it down, as it still hadn’t fully recovered from the small injuries it had received in the bushes. “Well, she’s cute. So I went with a cute look? I gave her a small bow to put on the ear that’s always extended, and gave her little fluff balls to make a makeshift flower crown.”

“Alright, we made our decision. Firstly, Siyeon you kind of technically cheated, but we’ll admire your efforts for getting all those bows on. We’re giving you 2 and a half points out of 5. Jinsoul, your creativity is to be admired, so we have you 3 points. Heejin, your look was cute and pretty cohesive, 4 points! As for Chaewon.. 3 and a half. You would’ve got 4 if you used some more items, because it might’ve matched with you more. Choerry, your look could’ve been a bit better, however it is hard to style a Psyduck. 2 and a half points for you too. And Vivi, your look was basic, but creative. 3 points!”

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“Thank you Haseul for your detailed explanation! Okay, onto the next and final round. We were going to do the dance round, but that Cranidos and Lumineon would make it really hard for you guys so we’ll be nice. This is the round where you all get to show us an array of moves, you basically have to decide an order for 3-4 moves to show us, and dazzle us! You don’t get extra points for doing 4 moves, but you will be penalised if you’re under 3 or over 4. You’ve got 2 minutes to decide your order!”

Once their time was up, they decided to present in the same order as earlier. Siyeon stepped up to the middle of the stage with her Cranidos, after taking off all of the bows. “Alright Cranidos… Rock Tomb, create a big pile for me! Alright, use Zen Headbutt and smash those rocks the way we practiced!” The Cranidos smashed the rocks into a shape, which gave the appearance of a heart shape, earning a loud ‘Aww!’ from Chuu. “Okay guys… cover your ears. Cranidos, use screech!” Cranidos used screech, shattering the rocks further, now making a star shape. With that, Siyeon bowed, and helped her Cranidos to walk back.

Jinsoul wheeled out her Lumineon, before stepping back, holding a towel in her hands. “I promise I’ll dry the stage after this. Anyways, Lumineon, use Water Pulse and direct it upwards! Then use Silver Wind, and scatter that water!” Her Lumineon followed her directions, creating a pretty waterfall, falling towards the stage. “Jump out of that tank, and use Aqua Ring as you go back in!” Her Lumineon did just that, creating a ripple in the waterfall. “Now use Flash, inside your tank!” As her Lumineon did that, the entire waterfall glowed, before all falling to the stage with a loud splash. Jinsoul ran to dry up the water, then bowed as she wheeled the Lumineon back.

Heejin only walked forward slightly, before immediately commanding her Roserade. “Use Petal Dance, scatter them all over!” Her Roserade did this, creating a small show of petals that rained down around it as it now stood in the centre of the stage. “Use Stun Spore now, and mix it in with the petals!” This instruction created a combination of purple, pink and yellow falling around the Roserade, highlighting it’s elegance. Heejin waited until it all fell down, before shouting out her final command. “Use protect, and send it all back!” This created a mini blast, sending it showering down once again before disappearing. Both Heejin and Roserade bowed, and then walked back in line.

Chaewon grabbed her Spinda and ran up dramatically, almost practically dropping it as she set it down. To almost everyone, it looked like an accident. But as Chaewon yelled out her first command, it became apparent that it was deliberate. “Use Teeter Dance!” Her Spinda stumbled about on stage, and started to spin in a circle. “Keep that circle going, and use Psybeam! Then use Shock Wave!” As her Spinda used Psybeam, it created a light show above the stage, captivating everyone’s eyes. As it began to ease, it fired the Shock Waves through the light show, creating a pastel illusion. As it ended, Chaewon walked up to her Spinda, scooped it up and ran dramatically back to where she was standing in line.

Choerry walked up nervously, looking back to make sure the Psyduck was following her. Once it was next to her, she stepped back, quickly yelling out her commands. “Use Water Pulse directly in front of you, and use Fury Swipes on it while spinning!” This created small hovering pools of water that surrounded her Psyduck, and she moved quickly so that it wouldn’t fall. “Use Confusion!” This immediate psychic blast shattered the water pools, creating small shimmering gems that immediately fell around Psyduck and Choerry. Choerry bowed quickly, before grabbing the towel off of Jinsoul and wiping any water that was left behind.

Vivi walked up, feeling slight pressure from all of the other’s performances. She was worried slightly about her Buneary, so she decided to be cautious with her moves. “Use Sweet Kiss, then use Fake Out!” Her Buneary conjured up small clouds in the shape of hearts, then immediately smacked them so that they looked like star shapes instead. “Now use Sunny Day, but try and aim it at those clouds!” As her Buneary aimed the sunlight at the clouds, it made the star shapes look as if they were glowing faintly. With this, Vivi wrapped up the performance, bowing slightly before scooping up her Buneary.

“Okay guys. Just to remind you all, this round is out of 10. The order currently is Heejin, then Chaewon, followed by Jinsoul and Vivi. Siyeon and Choerry are both on equal last. All of your performances were fantastic, and honestly I didn’t know what to expect. We aren’t going to give you individual feedback because that’s going to take forever. We’ll just give you points. Siyeon, you received 7 points, which puts you at 9.5 out of 15. Jinsoul, you received 8.5 points, putting you at 11.5 points. Heejin, you received 7.5 points, and you now have 11.5 points as well. Chaewon, you received 7.5 points as well, meaning you now have 11 points. Choerry, you received 8 points, putting you at 10.5 points. And Vivi, you received 8 points as well, which also puts you at 11 points. We have two overall winners, Jinsoul and Heejin! But the Ralts competition also has two winners so… good luck figuring that out.” 

Chuu laughed as she handed the microphone back to Lip, who shook her head just slightly. “Alright… I personally suggest heads or tails, because if I have to MC another one of these I swear I’ll go insane.” Vivi and Chaewon nodded their heads in agreement, before looking over at Choerry.

“You do the coin flip on your Poketch, so it’s impartial. Chaewon, heads or tails.” 

“Tails.”

Everyone gathered around Choerry as she touched the screen of her Poketch, anxious to see what the result was. They watched as it flipped 5 times, before landing on the side with a Pokeball.

“Okay not to sound dumb… but what’s a Pokeball meant to mean.”

“Its heads, Siyeon.”

“How is that heads? It’s not even a head, what the… oh wait, congrats Vivi!”

As everyone congratulated her and packed up, Chaewon handed her the Pokeball that contained Ralts. Vivi didn’t miss the disappointment in her eyes, and shook her head. “I only agreed with heads or tails to be fair, I was going to let you have it. You’ve been trying to get one for a long time right?”

Chaewon stared at her in shock, before nodding and tightly hugging her. 

“Thank you so much! I feel guilty though…” Vivi ruffled her hair slightly, and shook her head.

“Don’t feel guilty, just repay me one day with a Pokemon Egg or something.”


	17. [Interlude #5]

Yves had been dreaming of this moment since she was a young girl. The ceremony… the admiration… it was everything she wanted. She had been looking forward to this for years… and here it was.

There was only one problem.

It wasn’t for her. It was all for her friend…

Haseul.

Haseul had no idea that it stung so badly for Yves. How could she? She had never confided in her friends about her dreams, because she thought it was foolish. Everyone always wanted to be a gym leader, right? Most kids grow out of it, but she never did. And clearly, neither did her friends. With Haseul’s appointment as Eterna City gym leader, it all began to flow so quickly. Jinsoul found herself appointed over in Canalave City, and then their friend Yoohyeon was appointed for Sunyshore City. 

The only ones left were herself, and Dami.

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Dami had always been quiet, and closed off at times. She told her friends very little about her past life, before she met them. Don’t get her wrong, she was close with them, and she had been happy for their friends as they each found their new roles, and she never mentioned her growing sadness. She never told them how she applied for every opening for any gym. She didn't tell them about the countless rejections either. Until she got rejected from the one she wanted most.

Snowpoint City. The place where she had grown up. She had never wanted something so badly, to just go back home. And she thought she had her chance, finally. Most people didn’t apply there, due to the cold, and the type restriction. So she thought she finally had it in the bag. But someone else got picked over her.

You would never guess who.

Yves had told them all the news excitedly, after struggling to gather them all on short notice. 

“It’s not exactly what I want, but honestly? I’ll take what I can get. Even if Snowpoint City is freezing and so far away.”

Everyone jumped up in surprise, congratulating her. They all hugged her, and yelled excitedly. And of course, Dami joined in. She would be a horrible friend if she didn’t. 

That’s why Haseul was so surprised when Dami came crying to her the next day, completely distraught. It was an hour before Haseul had calmed her down, and that’s when she spilled everything. The countless rejections, the fact that she abandoned everything in Snowpoint City to see the region… and the fact that she was completely jealous of Yves. Haseul couldn’t lie, her heart tugged at her friend’s sadness. The one time she fully opened up, and this is what happened. She just tried to soothe Dami, telling her that she was sure that an opportunity would pop up soon.

She wasn’t wrong either. An opportunity did pop up, almost a week later. It happened so quickly. Yves hadn’t even started her training at Snowpoint City before she was moved to another city. She wasn’t told where it was until she was meant to fly out there that morning. The previous gym leader was meant to come and see her that morning.

“Yves? It's time for you to go to your new city.”

“Haseul? Are we swapping gyms or something?”

“Not quite. I’m… I'm stepping down. This… just wasn’t for me. I took everything out of my gym, since I know you always wanted to have a flying type gym. Have fun, Yves. You’ll do well. I have to inform your replacement.”

Haseul didn’t give Yves a chance to talk before she walked away, hurrying off to go find Dami, and give her the good news.


	18. [Episode 11]

After yesterday, Vivi had easily shot up Chaewon’s ranking of her friends. They had been quite awkward initially, but now she would give her whatever she wanted, if she really wanted it.

Except for right now, because she was incredibly annoyed at her. It was roughly 7am, and Vivi had roughly shaken her awake. She couldn’t remember if she had told them that she liked to sleep in, but she had hoped that they weren’t such early risers. Looking around, she saw that everyone was still asleep, including Choerry. 

“Vivi, it’s so early… why? No one else is up...”

“Yeah, exactly. That’s why. I wanted to know if you’d help me out with battling.”

Chaewon blinked back at Vivi in surprise. She had thought quite highly of her battling so far, appreciating her quick improvement over such a short period of time, so she couldn’t understand why she wanted her help. And as far as she knew, neither Vivi nor Choerry had even seen her battle anyone… actually maybe Choerry had. But Vivi definitely wouldn’t have.

“You want my help? But… Vivi, you’re a pretty good battler already, aren’t you? Is this just gym battle day nerves?”

“I wish it was… I’ve heard that this gym leader was really challenging, and I know you told us not to put ourselves down but… I just found out the types she battles with.”

Oh. Now it all made sense to Chaewon. To her knowledge, this was the only gym of its kind, in any region.

A dark type gym.

“Ah… cause it’s dark types right? I can kind of help you out, I have a Pokemon that’s half-dark type. But it’s only one Pokemon-”

“I can help you out too, if you’d like. I’ve got a couple of dark type Pokemon, and a half-dark type that should be useful.”

Vivi and Chaewon looked up in surprise, not realising that anyone else was awake this early. Dami was sitting on the side of the couch where Haseul and Choerry were fast asleep, being careful to not knock Haseul’s arm and accidentally wake her up. 

“It won’t be any trouble for me, I don’t have to be back until tomorrow. My gym being so far away from the main part of the region has its advantages sometimes.”

“I thought your gym specialised in ice types?” Chaewon winced as she saw Choerry stir, not realising how loud her voice was.

“Yeah, I have some dark types too. I was tempted to make it a dark type gym at one stage, but it's a lot easier to raise ice types up there. The dark types should be around the right strength to match this gym.”

As they made their way over to the field next to the Pokemon Centre, Vivi and Chaewon began to start shivering from how cold it was that morning. Shaking her head slightly, Dami chucked the jacket she was currently wearing to Chaewon, and pulled another out for Vivi. Before they could even protest, she shut them down immediately. 

“Trust me, this isn’t that cold to me. Compared to Snowpoint City, it’s actually warm. Anyways, do you want to battle against all 3, or just one of the Pokemon?”

“From what Siyeon told me, she uses a mix of pure dark types and half-dark types. So I guess I should battle against one of each.” Dami sighed once she heard this, shaking her head just slightly.

“Of course Siyeon would tell you the kinds of Pokemon another leader uses, she’s too nice. Well, if we’re doing that, I’ll use a Sneasel and an Absol for you to test stuff out on, since I’m pretty sure she rotates a Sneasel into her party every now and then.”  
Dami decided to send out the Sneasel first, leaving Vivi to contemplate which Pokemon to send out first. Since it wasn’t a formal battle, Chaewon decided she should try and help her out.

“Okay, what Pokemon do you have?”

“Prinplup, Staravia, Budew, Buneary.”

“Has your Prinplup learnt Metal Claw yet? Since Sneasel is part ice, it’s weak to steel as well as the usual fighting type weakness.” Vivi pulled out her Pokedex, and after checking that her Prinplup did in fact have that move, sent it out.

“Let’s just do a few rounds, so you can get a feel for how Sneasel attacks. Then we’ll switch Pokemon. Sound good?”

Once Vivi had nodded her approval, Chaewon walked over to the sidelines, acting as a referee. “Alright, this is an informal battle. You’re not battling to knock each other out, just to do some move tests, so take it easy. After 3 rounds of moves, you guys can swap Pokemon if you’d like. Alright, start whenever you want!”

Vivi’s Prinplup had only used Metal Claw twice before it had to be called back, as it was much stronger than the Sneasel and was already close to knocking it out. Dami nodded approvingly, calling her own Pokemon back.

“Good, good, you’ll be fine if she sends one of these out. Also sorry, I should’ve warned you that the Sneasel isn’t very strong. She’s kind of a baby, especially compared to the rest of my Pokemon. Okay, you ready for the Absol?” Once Vivi nodded, she sent it out. Since Chaewon was technically refereeing, Dami decided it was her turn to help Vivi out.

“By any chance, have you taught your Prinplup Brick Break?” Seeing Vivi shake her head, she moved onto the next Pokemon. “Okay well, that’s okay. You have a Buneary right? Check it’s moves, it’s probably learnt it’s fighting type move, Jump Kick. Buneary is lucky, it can learn fighting type moves, making it pretty useful.”

Vivi checked her Pokedex, and saw that it had in fact learnt Jump Kick, and swapped her Pokemon out. Dami stared at the Buneary for a moment, before walking over and asking to see it’s Pokedex entry.

“Hmm… alright, I’m going to let you knock my Absol out this time. It’s important that you can practice on a pure dark type, in case she throws only those at you.”

They repeated the same process over and over again. Buneary used Jump Kick, Absol struck back with Bite and Sucker Punch. Vivi was worried that her Buneary wasn’t strong enough to defeat the Absol, especially as it seemed to be much stronger than her Pokemon. However, just as she began to worry, her Buneary’s move seemed to strike harder than the last few times, and sent the Absol flying backwards. It didn’t get back up, so Chaewon declared the battle to be over.

“Wow, a critical hit. Good job, the Absol is about the strength you’d see a few gyms from now, so the fact that you pulled that off is amazing-” 

Dami’s praise was cut off as the Buneary began to glow in front of her, and she smiled at the sight before her. Vivi could only look on in shock as her Buneary evolved, stunning her. She hadn’t thought that their bond was high enough yet for it to evolve, but she was proven wrong. 

“If you look at your Pokedex, you can see a few hearts above your Buneary. They’re full, which means your bond is high enough for it to evolve into Lopunny, which is why I wanted you to knock my Absol out. Now… I think you’ll be fine for your gym battle. Let’s go wake everyone else up, and then we can walk you guys over to the gym.”

Once everyone had been woken up, and they had all eaten some food, the group walked over to Hearthome City’s Gym. 

“Good luck guys. I’d love to stay and watch your battle, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got some annoyed challengers waiting for me back in Oreburgh.” Kim Lip and Chuu nodded, agreeing with Siyeon and sharing similar well wishes. Choerry looked over at Heejin and Haseul, expecting to have to say her goodbyes to them as well, but they shook their heads.

“We don’t have to be back until tomorrow, so we’ll stick around and watch. Besides, I’ve absolutely got to watch my best friend and my may-as-well-be younger sister have a gym battle at some point, right?” 

“Yeah, Haseul is right. Jinsoul is probably going to stick around too, right?” 

“Of course, besides I’ve got some catching up with Chaewon to do.”

“I’ll stick around too, there’s not going to be people at Snowpoint City for a long time anyways.”

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As they walked inside, a trail of lamps lit up, leading to the battle area for the gym. Vivi and Choerry made their way through the trail, as the rest of their group went to sit in the stands overlooking the battle area. As soon as they had reached the field, the whole room lit up with the eerie lamps, revealing a girl with red hair staring at them.

“Welcome to the Hearthome City Gym, the name is Yeri. At this gym, I exclusively use dark type Pokemon, although you might’ve figured it out from the eerie decorations.” Yeri waited for them to look around at the room before she continued. “Since there’s two of you, I’ll be rotating which Pokemon I use, although I assume you’ve had that happen before?”

“Yeah, in our last one Siyeon rotated her Pokemon.”

“Ah, yes. I forgot that Yves left her gym unattended. This is only your second battle right? I’ll still be using my usual 3 Pokemon, but I may use 2 slightly weaker ones to account for that. Now… who’s going first?”

Vivi stepped forward slightly, and looked back at Choerry. “Do you mind if I go first this time?’

Once Choerry had taken a seat up in the stands, and Vivi was left alone at the battle area, Yeri ran through the rules for the gym battle. “We can use 3 Pokemon each, and while you can swap your Pokemon out, I cannot. You’re able to forfeit the battle at any time, if you become concerned about your Pokemon’s safety. We can also use healing items at any time. Are you ready to start?”

Once Vivi nodded, Yeri sent out her first Pokemon, a Mightyena. She couldn’t remember the typing that Mightyena had, whether or not it was a pure dark type or not, so she decided to play it safe and send out her Lopunny for the fighting type move. Yeri gave her no time to settle before attacking, yelling out a command straight away.

“Mightyena, use Crunch!”

“Lopunny, avoid it and use Jump Kick!”

The Mightyena moved fast, and her Lopunny only just managed to avoid it’s attack before using its own. It was thrown back across the field, but jumped back almost straight away, snarling viciously at her Lopunny. 

“Use Bite!”

“Dodge it, and use Jump Kick again!”

Before her Lopunny had time to react, the Mightyena had striked, and threw her Pokemon off guard. It got another attack in before her Lopunny snapped out of it, kicking back with more force than last time. Once again, her Lopunny had pulled off a critical hit, and the Mightyena didn’t get back up.

“Huh… interesting. You’re a pretty good battler.” Yeri wasted no time, calling her Mightyena back and immediately sending out a new Pokemon. Vivi was surprised to see an Umbreon, but knew that it was another pure dark type.

_Was Dami’s earlier comment going to turn out to be true? She hasn’t used a half dark type yet…_

Once Yeri had realised that Vivi wasn’t going to switch Pokemon, she immediately began to shout commands.

“Use Quick Attack, and then use Bite! Keep repeating it Umbreon!”

“Use Quick Attack as well, but follow up with Jump Kick!”

Vivi watched as the two Pokemon clashed, wincing slightly. Her Lopunny was bigger, and the force of its attack sent the Umbreon sliding backwards, unable to pull off it’s second move. Her Lopunny took advantage of this, quickly landing the kick move. 

“Keep repeating that Lopunny, don’t give it a chance to attack back!”

Vivi’s aggressive style seemed to be working in her favour, as her Lopunny struck again and again. Despite this, the Umbreon still got up again and again, even if it couldn’t land a hit. 

“Okay, try Jump Kick one last time!”  
Vivi’s Lopunny once again landed the kick, but instead of sending it flying, it just knocked it over, finally knocking it out. Her Lopunny tripped over the Umbreon, and found itself lying on the ground, struggling to get up. Vivi knew she wouldn’t be able to force it to battle anymore, and called her Pokemon back as Yeri called the Umbreon back.  
2 down, just 1 to go…

“I have to admit, I’m really impressed. I haven’t had a trainer get through the first 2 Pokemon so quickly. Are you ready for the last Pokemon?”

“Yeah, I am.” Vivi was hoping that the final Pokemon would be a Pokemon that had another weakness she could easily exploit, now that her Lopunny was out of the battle. She held her breath, hoping that it would be Sneasel’s evolution, but felt her heart drop as she saw a Honchkrow. 

“Oh shit”

“JINSOUL-”

It clearly wasn’t just her who was immediately worried, as she heard Choerry and Heejin groan, and obviously Jinsoul was concerned. A quick look at the stands showed that Dami, Chaewon and Haseul were just as worried as she felt. She had no idea how she was going to do this.  
Vivi decided to just go with the strongest Pokemon that she left, sending out her Prinplup. She knew that she hadn’t taught it any ice type moves yet, and she knew Honchkrow wasn’t weak to steel types. But if she sent out her Budew or Staravia, they would be worse off than her Prinplup. Once again, Yeri gave her no time to think of a plan, attacking immediately.

“Use wing attack, and alternate with Peck!”

Vivi was thrown off guard by this combination of moves, but decided to use the closeness of those moves to her advantage.

“Let it get close, and attack with Metal Claw! Just keep trying to hit it!”

Her Prinplup let the first attack hit, but then began to strike back. The Honchkrow seemed to be caught off guard by the attacks, but then began to strike back again with Wing Attack. She watched as they exchanged moves over and over again, before the Honchkrow’s wing smacked her Prinplup backwards. Vivi began to wonder about what she could do, before remembering that her Prinplup had learned some long-distance moves that she could try and use to her advantage.

“Don’t let the Honchkrow come near you anymore! Keep dodging and try and wear it out!”

Her Prinplup tried to follow her instructions, but began to wear itself out as the Honchkrow relentlessly attempted to attack. For her, the important thing was that it hadn’t landed an attack in awhile, and it was becoming tired itself.

“Okay, use bubble beam now! Then try and use Metal Claw again!”

Her Prinplup’s attack sent the Honchkrow flying across the field, and it seemed stunned by the sudden attack. Her Prinplup took advantage of this, chasing after it and striking once again. The Honchkrow fell to the ground, to Yeri and Vivi’s surprise. She had thought it would’ve taken some more attacks to knock it out. She heard cheering from the stands, which confirmed that she wasn’t imagining the scenario in front of her.

“Well… congratulations! You’re probably the first trainer in a long time who’s beaten me on the first try. I’m just going to go get some more Pokemon, and we can start the other battle when you’re ready.” 

Yeri directed her last sentence to Choerry, who was still sitting in the stands in shock, before directing a smile Vivi’s way.

_Did I… did I really just do that?_

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

As soon as Yeri went to change her Pokemon, Choerry sighed dramatically and slid down her seat and sat on the floor, holding her head in her hands. Exchanging a quick glance with Jinsoul, Chaewon crouched down to her level and poked her cheek just slightly.

“Choerry.”

When she got no response, she poked her cheek even harder, multiple times, until Choerry finally made eye contact with her.

“Wow, cute… anyways, why are you down here?”

“I’mkindofscaredafterthatbecauseifVivistruggledalittlethenwhataboutme”

“Okay, can someone translate for me, I understood none of th- ow! Was the smack on the back of the head really necessary Jinsoul?”

“I don’t know… I feel like the lineup she uses is going to take me by surprise, and then the next thing you know I’ve lost the gym battle and have to come back another day. I don’t think I even have any counters!”

“Your companion is literally a bug type. That’s a counter.” Haseul’s borderline disgusted look didn’t go unnoticed by Choerry, who shot her a glare before looking defeated again.

“That’s only one counter… what if I get Weavile?”

“Ponyta.” No one had even realised that Vivi had made her way up to the stands, but they quickly said their congratulations before turning their attention to the issue at hand.

“Uh… okay I don’t know any other dark types.”

“Okay… let’s go through your team, yeah? You have Ponyta, you have Nincada… what else do you have?” Jinsoul decided to take the kind approach after sensing that Choerry was becoming quickly distressed at the prospect of possibly losing the battle. She had also crouched down to Choerry’s eye level, and was soon joined by Dami and Heejin. 

“Uh… I also have Grotle and Psyduck.” Choerry handed over her Pokedex, letting them scroll through the moves that her Pokemon had learnt. Dami looked through it thoughtfully, before nodding her head slowly.

“Well, you taught your Grotle Rock Smash, so you have a fighting type move there. Psyduck can counter some half-dark types too. You’ll be okay, don’t worry.” Heejin squeezed her shoulder while Dami explained, before looking over at the field.

“Uh… I think Yeri is ready for you. Wow, that sounds so creepy. She’s waiting for you… oh no that sounds even worse. Y’know what, she’s got her Pokemon. You want me to walk you down?”

Choerry took a deep breath as she listened to Yeri explain the rules once again, shaking just slightly.

_I don’t get why I’m so nervous. I have counters, we went through that. Is it because this is the first time Haseul and Heejin are going to see me battle? Or is it just the pressure of the only gym like this…_

“Are you ready to start?”

“Yeah… yeah I’m ready.”

Yeri nodded, shooting Choerry a gentle smile as she sent out her first Pokemon. _Ah, she must’ve noticed that I was nervous… oh… Mightyena again?_

Choerry thought carefully about what she could send out. She was hesitant about sending her Nincada out, since the Mightyena was so much bigger… and vicious looking. _I know that Grotle wasn’t a fighting type, but the move and it’s shell would probably be a better combination._

Just like before, Yeri gave no time to get adjusted before shouting commands, but Choerry was ready this time, after watching Vivi’s battle.

“Mightyena, quick attack and then Crunch!”

“Let it get close, and use Rock Smash!”

Choerry watched the Mightyena clamp its jaw on a part of Grotle’s outer shell, and breathed a sigh of relief when it did very little harm to her Pokemon. Her Grotle then smacked the Mightyena in the side, sending it flying back.

“Follow up with Razor Leaf while it’s far away!”

“Try and push through to use Crunch again!”

While it didn’t do much, the attack did enough to prevent the Mightyena getting closer, giving Choerry time to think things through.

_Rock Smash seemed to work pretty well, maybe I should let Mightyena get close again, and try and end this quickly?_

“Mightyena, Crunch!”

_Well… it’s like she read my mind._

“Let it get close to you again, and put all your strength into Rock Smash!”

Choerry watched as the Mightyena clamped on once again, but kept quickly dodging the attacks of her Grotle.

“Try and use your tail, it should be harder to dodge!”

The tail worked like a charm, sending the Mightyena flying across the field. As it struggled to get up, Choerry celebrated internally.

_Only two to go, it can’t get worse right?_

It did, in fact, get worse. Choerry had prepared for another pure dark type Pokemon to face, thinking that Yeri would use the same pattern as before. But as Yeri sent out her next Pokemon, Choerry felt a simultaneous feeling of relief, and worry.

Yeri had sent out a Weavile, which meant that she would have to use her Ponyta. As she called back her Grotle, she began to panic once again. She hadn’t mentioned it to Dami, but she hadn’t fully tamed the Ponyta just yet. It would sometimes act out, and refuse to do what she would command.

_Please, please listen just this once. All you have to do is hit the Weavile once or twice…_

“Weavile, use scratch!”

“Ponyta, fire spin!”

She had found that being strict in her commands made the Ponyta, listen, and thankfully, this time it worked. She decided to take a strategy from Vivi’s battle, and try and clash head on and do a bit of extra damage. If this round ended quickly enough, then she wouldn’t have to worry about her Ponyta being difficult. She watched the two Pokemon collide, and she swore she heard Dami wince from the stands. The Weavile took a serious amount of damage, and seemed like it wouldn’t get back up.

And then it did, which crushed Choerry’s hopes just slightly.

“Ponyta, use fire spin again!”

Her Ponyta stared at her for a few moments, before turning its head away from her. She heard Chaewon laugh from the stands, and then a loud noise and a groan, along with grumbling. 

_I guess Jinsoul smacked her again. But seriously… this makes me look like such a bad trainer…_

“Weavile, try scratch again!”

Choerry decided to let her Ponyta take the attack, hoping it would realise that if it didn’t listen, it would just get hurt. And then her Ponyta had the audacity to almost glare at her.

_Okay… maybe a different move will work?_

“Use double kick Ponyta!”

Her Ponyta looked at her for a few moments, and then stared at the ground, but then decided to attack the Weavile finally. It was just what she needed to finish the round off, and she watched Yeri withdraw her Pokemon again.

_Finally, that nightmare is over…_

Choerry wasted no time withdrawing her Ponyta, not caring if another ice/dark type Pokemon was used. _I can’t deal with that again._

Yeri sent out her final Pokemon, and Choerry almost expected to see the Honchkrow again, assuming it may have been her signature Pokemon. But instead, a Houndoom was sent out, catching her off guard.

_Well, this should be easier. At least Psyduck actually listens to me._

Yeri once again wasted no time, immediately calling out commands as soon as her Psyduck was on the field. 

“Thunder Fang!”

_Wait, what? Oh no…_

Her Psyduck only just barely dodged the attack in time, and Choerry realised she would have to work fast. It would only take one or two hits from that move, and she’d be screwed.

“Quick, Water Pulse! Keep using it too.”

She decided to stick to moves that wouldn’t let the Houndoom get close enough to use Thunder Fang, and she groaned slightly as the Houndoom dodged every other burst of water. 

_Seriously, does it really have to be so agile…_

As Choerry watched the two Pokemon struggle, she noticed that the Houndoom was using Quick Attack to dodge so easily, and she had an idea.

“Psyduck, stand still, and use Disable when Houndoom next moves! Then use Water Pulse again continually!”

Choerry’s suspicion was correct, and the Houndoom struggled to dodge so easily, and was hit by the bursts of water 5 times in a row, making it incredibly weak.

“Finish it off with quick attack!”

The last attack finished it off completely, and Choerry burst into a smile as Yeri shook her head slightly.

“You guys are both good battlers… I’ll go get your badges.”

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

They were back in the Pokemon Centre, huddled around a small table, where Vivi and Choerry had placed their badge cases.

“Hopefully you guys will be able to get the Eterna City badge eventually, I’m sure the leader will be back soon…” Dami trailed off, before chuckling slightly. “You were both so worried, but I honestly think you guys handled it so well, I’d be tempted to say you guys were bluffing…”

“Absolutely not!”

“I almost cried when she sent out the Weavile, so trust me… I wasn’t bluffing. So… what are you guys going to do now?”

Haseul and Dami exchanged a look, before gesturing to Heejin or Jinsoul to speak first. 

“Uh… Jinsoul and I are going to be going back soon, but I have no idea what these two are doing…”

Choerry noticed Haseul’s small smile, and gasped slightly.

“You’re not going to… no way, right?”

Vivi and Chaewon shared a confused look, before staring at Haseul and Dami for an explanation.

“Well… we’re going to join you guys for a little bit. Neither of us need to be back for awhile, so…”


End file.
